Tobirama Senju Reincarnated: The Second Hokage's Heir
by MM995
Summary: When Orochimaru revived Hashirama and Tobirama, he wasn't aware that the Second Hokage had created a jutsu which allows him to free himself from the caster's control. How will things change when Tobirama is told by the Third Hokage that he has one single descendant left who happens to be none other than Naruto Uzumaki? Strong Naruto (not Godlike!)
1. Chapter 1

Heavily inspired by 'Nidaime's Descendant' by Sechrima, as well as 'Nidaime no Sairin' by Narutoenthusiast, this story is a sort of response to my own challenge that is written on my profile page and my fic 'Challenge: Naruto Fanfic Ideas for Naruto Fanfic Authors'.

Unlike in most fics, my story will mostly use English TV terms instead of the Japanese or the Literal English ones. For example, I will not use 'Katon' or 'Suiton', but 'Fire style' and 'Water style'. This will also apply to things such as the hidden villages and the Great shinobi nations. This is mostly for the sake of uiniqueness as well as the fact that I personally prefer it like that.

I don't own Naruto nor anything else that this story borrows from.

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Hiruzen Sarutobi, known as the Third Hokage and the third ninja who gained the title of God of Shinobi, could only stand frozen as he watched his two predecessors step out of their coffins. His teachers, Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju, stood before him in all their undead glory.

The only relief he had was that the third coffin, which undoubtedly held his one and only successor Minato Namikaze, failed to rise out of the ground and was promptly swallowed by the dimensional void that summoned them in the first place. It changed little as before him still stood the two of the greatest Senju that ever existed and the founders of the Hidden Leaf Village.

"Hmmm, Hiruzen? Is that you?" asked Hashirama.

"You've gotten old, Saru." said Tobirama.

"Yes, it is I. It has been many years since both of your deaths. You've been summoned back to the world of the living through the use of the Reanimation jutsu, which has been used by my rogue student, Orochimaru." replied the old Hokage after managing to gain a semblence of composure.

"Ku ku ku. Yes, I just couldn't help but find the entire situation ironic and satisfying. Seeing my former sensei getting killed by his own former senseis, after which I'll unleash them upon the village they struggled and endeavoured so hard to build." said Orochimaru with his traditional sadistic smirk.

The First Hokage put his hand on his face in exasperation "No matter what era, there is always conflict."

"Isn't it wonderful?" Orochimaru chuckled as he pulled two kunais with a sealing tag attached to them.

Tobirama noticed them and, being his analitycal self as well as quite adept at sealing jutsu, quickly discerned their purpose. Not wanting to allow him to finish his move, he went through several hand signs. After finishing them, the reincarnated Hokage glowed for a second and his previously sickly pale complexion gained a lot more vitality and color.

Orochimaru , Hiruzen and Hashirama all stared at him in confusion, before Tobirama went through a sequence of new hand signs and put his hand on his brother's forehead. A large seal formula spread out from the point of contact and both the sannin and his former master recognised it as a Contract Seal. The sannin could only watch in desbilief as Hashirama's soul was being released and the ashen body started falling apart, revealing a Sound gennin inside it.

"How did you free yourself? It is impossible." scowled Orochimaru.

"Do you take me for an amateur and a fool? I had always considered the possibility that the Reanimation jutsu might be used against the village, which is why I created a jutsu which allows the one brought back to life to destroy the contract between him and the summoner." the Second Hokage elaborated before making a single hand sign which instantly put Orochimaru on guard.

**"Water style: Water Shockwave"**

A giant wave of water was created out of thin air and went with frightening ferocity towards the sannin. Fortunately for him, he had enough sense to create a Mud Wall to defend himself. Keeping the hand sign, Tobirama called out a new jutsu.

**"Water style: Water Severing Wave"**

A highly pressurised beam of water shot out of his mouth and cut through the earthen wall, as well as one of Orochimaru's arms. Jumping back, he opened his mouth wide and out of it came a new pair of arms which grabbed the edges of the mouth and opened them even wider, allowing a completely healed Snake sannin to come out of it.

He frowned at this sudden change of events and, as much as it _burned _him to admit it, the invasion was over. There was no way he could fight two kages and Tobirama alone was probably too much to handle by himself. It was better that he survived and destroyed the village another day than die right now and never see his dream of mastering all jutsu come to fruition.

"Pull the barrier down. We're leaving!" said Orochimaru.

"Right!" yelled the Sound Four simoultaneously.

After the purple barrier was dispelled, the Sound ninja made a quick getaway, leaving the two kage on the roof to watch them retreat.

The older (technically) of the two approached the other "Tobirama-sensei, I cannot thank you enough for this."

The Second Hokage just nodded "Yes, it appears to be fortunate that he has revived me, despite the unfortunate intention behind it."

Hiruzen turned grim "I am sorry about that. Orochimaru used to be a student of mine til he went rogue for various experimentation on people. He appereantly has a desire to learn the secrets behind all jutsu of this world and that desire has driven him mad."

Tobirama crossed his arms in thought before replying "I shall stay here to help you capture or kill him. He must be stopped and no one can threaten the village and get away with it."

Hiruzen smiled warmly at the prospect of his undead sensei staying for a longer amount of time "I am grateful for your help, sensei."

Tobirama just smiled back and looked out at the village that was still in the middle of the invasion.

"There will be time for reconnections later. Now, we must end the invasion. Who are we fighting against, anyway?" he said as they both jumped from the roof.

"My ex-student's own village the Hidden Sound and the Hidden Sand Village. Originally, they were our allies but Orochimaru somehow persuaded them to attack us. Most likely because of their rather poor economic and military state." replied Hiruzen.

The reanimated Hokage nodded before they got to work. For the rest of the day, they fought the invaders. Thankfully, due to his reanimated body, he had limitless stamina and chakra, even though he can use only as much chakra as he had when he was alive at a certain time. The Hidden Leaf Ninja cheered at the arrival of not only their Third Hokage, but the Second as well. The invasion ended not long after their arrival as the forces of the Hidden Sound and Hidden Sand were obviously no match for them.

As they watched their people cheer, Tobirama couldn't help but ask something that's been nagging him "Saru, I wasn't able to sense much Senju chakra. While there are traces here and there, they are faint. Why is that so?"

Hiruzen looked at him sorrowfuly "I'm sorry, sensei, but most of them have died fighting in the rest of the First and the entirety of the Second and Third Great Ninja War. Not to mention that, during that period, most Senju newborn were female and most of them married outside the clan. As it stands, the only person who carries the surname Senju is Tsunade, your grandniece."

Tobirama could feel the sadness and frustration welling up in him. The greatest shinobi clan in the world is practically gone. His family is practically no more. It was nigh inconcievable.

On that note, that also meant something else.

"Then I have no descendant, no heir." said sullenly the normally composed man.

Hiruzen looked at him thoughtfully. He didn't know whether he should tell him, but looking at him this morose, he knew he couldn't keep the truth from him. He never could lie to Tobirama-sensei. Besides, this had gone long enough and this was the perfect opportunity and he definately wasn't going to miss it.

"Actually, there is one more. You _do_ have one descendant." said the aged kage.

Tobirama looked at him in suprise "I do? Who is it and how is this person related to me?"

"His name is Naruto Uzumaki and he is your great grandson. He's 13 years old and a gennin of the village. Your daughter had married Kazuya Namikaze and they had a son who was named Minato Namikaze, who ended up being the Fourth Hokage."

Tobirama raised an eyebrow, "If that is so, how come you're still Hokage?" he asked even though he already knew the answer to that question.

Hiruzen looked at the ground with a sad visage "He died 13 years ago."

"How?"

Hiruzen bit his lip before answering "On October the 10th, 13 years ago, the Nine-tails attacked the village and Minato died to protect it."

His sensei stared wide-eyed at him "The Nine-tails escaped from it's jinchuriki? Saru, how did this happen? Don't tell me it was Mito who.."

The Third Hokage shook his head "No, it wasn't her. She had been dead for over a decade already. The name of the second jinchuriki was Kushina Uzumaki and she was Minato's wife. She had been giving birth to a child when the Nine-tails somehow escaped, though I don't know how that was possible. Minato had been with her and he was a highly skilled seals master. Someone must have intervined and released it from the seal. It is most likely so since the Nine-tails had suddenly appeared in a cloud of smoke in the middle of the village."

_A Summoning _thought Tobirama, which was an amazing feat in on itself as only two people had been able to do it.

Madara Uchiha and his brother, Hashirama.

However, the cursed Uchiha had died a very long time ago so it couldn't have been him. Not to mention that the only way to summona tailed beast is to take control of it. It's doubtful that someone else has Wood style, which left only one other option.

The Sharingan.

This was something that Tobirama had been trying to prevent; the birth of a new Madara. To realize that he failed was like a blow to the gut for him.

"Minato had used the Reaper Death Seal to imprison the Nine-tails inside a newborn baby, sacrificing his soul to the Reaper in exchange." Hiruzen stated.

"And this child is the one this Kushina woman had given birth to and the child is Naruto, correct?" said Tobirama after putting the pieces together.

Hiruzen nodded and suddenly turned sad, which did not go unnoticed by him. He thought as to why before it hit him.

"His status was released publicly, wasn't it?"

Hiruzen nodded again. Tobirama scowled at him and his student looked like a deer in headlights. Despite the fact that he was now twice his age, his sensei still made him feel like a naive child.

"Why? If what you say is true, the Nine-tails must have done some significant damage to the village and many people must have died, while others left traumatised. Why release his status as a jinchuriki after that?" Tobirama demanded.

Hiruzen sighed and looked at him, which caused Tobirama to soften his glare when he finally noticed just how truly old and tired he was.

"Both me and Minato were too idealistic. Minato had asked me, before he died, to tell the village to honor his and his son's sacrifice and to treat Naruto like a hero. As you have already guessed, that didn't work out as well as hoped, not by a long shot. He was hated and shunned for all of his life with very few people who actively showed care for him. I certainly couldn't force people to change their opinion." the old Hokage said.

"That was a very foolish decision my grandon made, despite the sentiment behind it. I have also noticed that you gave him his mother's clan name instead of his father's. Why is that?"

"Minato had made many enemies in the Hidden Stone and the Hidden Cloud during the Third Great Shinobi War, where he earned the monicker The Yellow Flash for refining and perfecting your Flying Raijin. We were still recovering when the Nine-tails attacked and if I had revealed that Naruto was his son to the public, there would have been nothing I could have done to stop the assassins and kidnappers that would have undoubtedly been sent. It is also because of that that I didn't tell Naruto himself of his father." Hiruzen stated.

Tobirama sighed and aknowledged his point, despite the pain his great grandson must have went through.

"With whom did he live?"

Hiruzen looked sheepish and Tobirama's glare was back at full force. He understood the need to hide his heritage, but this is unacceptable.

"I personally had tried to adopt him, but the Counncil had decided that no clan should have a jinchuriki in their family in order to keep the balance of power amongst them and to not show favouritism. The decision had been supported by the feudal lord himself; there was nothing I could do about it. He lived in the orphanage til he was 6 and after that I managed to het him his own apartment."

The Second Hokage was a very calm and collected individual who was rarely caught off guard, but at that moment, he felt rage like never before. This wasn't why the village was built. It was built to destroy the boundaries between the clans and to be a place for chldren to be just that; _children. _But they willingly let a child be mistreated for their own selfish wishes. His own great grandson and the son of the Fourth Hokage no less. Tobirama had little doubt that at least half of the clan heads had known that Naruto was Minato's son; it _was _the Hokage who was expecting a child for over half a year.

He clenched his fist before heaving a great sigh of frustration. There was no point in getting worked up now. What's done is done and there was nothing to be done about that. However, that doesn't mean that nothing could be done for the boy's future.

"I shall train the boy myself and stay with him until I deem it appropriate to leave and go back to the world of the dead. There is no way I'm going to allow a member of my family to grow in solitude and pain if I could do something about it. His heritage _should _be revealed at least to him" Tobirama declared.

Hiruzen smiled "I will give you the documents that state and prove your blood relation to him. While I still believe this is a very vile jutsu, sensei, I can't help but be thankful for it just this once. Naruto can at last meet an actual member of his family and catch a break in his life."

Two hours later, Tobirama could be found in a hospital room, staring down at the prone form of his great grandson as he slept. The reports said that he fought the One-tails jinchuriki who had used a full tailed beast tranformation, but Naruto had managed to summon the chief of the toads from Mount Myoboku and had been able to create over a thousand shadow clones, a jutsu of Tobirama's own making. His descendant came out of the battle victorious.

As he looked down at him, he couldn't help but notice the physical resemblences they had. The spiky hair, the same shape of the face as he had when he was his age, his nose and other, more subtle similarities.

Yes. This boy is undoubtedly his great grandson and he will help him in any way he could.


	2. Chapter 2

"What's the status?"

The two Hokage's were currently in The Third Hokage's office checking a status report regarding the invasion that happened yesterday. Hiruzen hmm'd before answering Tobirama's question, "All in all, we were quite lucky. There aren't as many qasualties as I previously thought and infrastructure damage could have been much worse. It'll take a little while to recover, but it's nothing too worrisome."

"That's good. Regardless of the invasion, we must not show to our clients and the other villages that we're week, so we'll still have to accept all the mission requests we are sent. It would have been bad if our forces had been spread out too thin with not nearly enough shinobi here to defend the village, despite the fairly peaceful state with the other hidden villages." Tobirama said.

Hiruzen nodded "Yes. We'll give some of our ninja time to recover, while the ones in a more convenient and better shape will handle the missions. I think it would be a good idea to give the village repairs as mission requests for genin and some chunin."

The Second Hokage nodded in approval "Speaking of genin, I'd like to have Naruto's official documentation and his birth certificate. I'd also like you to tell me something about him? His dreams, skills, teammates, mission performance etc."

The old kage smiled "I think you'll be happy to know that your grandson strives to be the greatest Hokage in history."

Tobirama's eyes widened for a second before he smiled in pride and happiness "I see."

Hiruzen's face turned sorrowful after that and his sensei sent him a questioning look. Hiruzen complied "Tobirama-sensei, I want you to understand that Naruto has probably the most potential out of everybody in his generation and a lot of talent. However, the Nine-tails attack left deep wounds in everybody in the Hidden Leaf Village, including our ninja, especially the younger generation at the time of the event."

Tobirama narrowed his eyes "Where are you going with this, Saru?"

Said monkey sighed before answering "For the first two and a half years of his total five years of schooling in the Academy, his education was sabotaged and a great part of his growth as both a ninja and a person stunted."

"WHAT?!"

"Like I said yesterday, I was too idealistic, to the point it made me naive to the many things that were happening to Naruto in his relation to the rest of the village. I believe the chunin teachers never told him what he did wrong when he failed something and purposely showed him how to do things inappropriately, like hand signs, taijutsu katas and such things." Hiruzen said sadly.

"All of this caused him to appear as a talentless loser. At first, Naruto studied hard, paid attention and learned as much as he could, but the faculty teachers gave him harder tests on purpose, put genjutsu on him to make him answer the questions with the wrong answers or threw him out of the classroom for the most miniscule of things. Later, it made Naruto believe that studying was pointless, so he stopped trying. Due to his lack of contact with people, he is oblivious to the many social mannerisms that we take for granted and he liked doing pranks to get attention, even if it was of the bad sort." he continued explaining while Tobirama seethed on the inside and visibly clenched his fists.

"The end result is that his great social shortcomings, lack of education and stunted growth make him seem like an annoying and idiotic nobody in the eyes of his peers and the ones who don't know of his burden."

The Second Hokage gritted his teeth in anger at the unfairness and cruelty of it all. To make an innocent child go through all of these things just to satisfy their peety emotions was infuriating and dissapointing. He expected better from his people, _much better._

"How could this have happened?" he looked at Sarutobi "How could _you _have ALLOWED this to happen? Right under your nose?"

"I'm sorry, sensei. At first, I believed that he just had some troubles with his learning with him not having parents to help him. I helped as much as I could, but I couldn't be there for him all the time. The Council also forebade anyone from taking him as an apprentice. Since he was still a civilian, he didn't fall directly under my jurisdiction, but he was still an Academy student so he wasn't under the Civilian Council's direct jurisdiction either." Hiruzen said with shame lacing his voice.

"We voted and I hoped my side of the arguement won. I know the way I talk makes it appear as if the entire Council is reprehensible, but the Shinobi side is actually decent and that's what gave me hope." he frowned after that.

"But you were still outvoted." Tobirama concluded.

Hiruzen nodded "While there was one more councilmen in the Shinobi Council than in the Civilian when not countig me, the head of the Uchiha clan voted against it and so did the rest of the Elder Council."

Tobirama frowned at that. Figures that the Uchiha would do something like that, but the elders should have known better, "And who are the other elders."

Hiruzen looked at him in shame, but Tobirama could also see anger and a hint of betrayal "Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane and Danzo Shimura."

The reincarnated Hokage couldn't remember a time he was ever 'floored', so to speak, a man of his status would never use such a vulgar and crass term, but that was probably the best word he wouls describe himself with at that moment. To think that two of his own students and one of his most trusted subordinates would do something like that. Did those idiots not know what they were doing.

If they had known about his relation to Naruto, that would be the closest thing he ever felt to betrayal than he ever felt before.

Speak of the devil, the very same three elders they were just talking about entered the office.

Koharu's and Homura's eyes widened momentarily at the sight of their undead sensei. They heard that he was brought back by Orochimaru and that he managed to break free of his control, but they still had their doubts. Danzo's expression remained as emotionless and stoic as ever.

"So it's true, you are back, Tobirama-sensei." Koharu stated, letting a small smile grace her lips.

"Yes, it is good to see you again." Homura said.

"Indeed. Your help was invaluable in yesterday's invasion. Thanks to your efforts we got out of it with relatively minimal economic, infrastructural and populatory damage, Lord Second." Danzo continued.

Despite their pretty words, they could see that he was looking at them with anger. While others might not have noticed, due to his usual calm visage, the three knew him too well to not notice it.

"Sensei, what's going on?" Homura asked.

Tobirama sighed and composed himself before speaking "We were just discussing the state of the village as well as a certain genin I have taken an interest in. Naruto Uzumaki is his name." the elders had a suprised look on their face "Hiruzen told me yesterday that I had one descendant left in this world and that the current Nine-tails jinchuriki is the one. We had just been discussing about him, his dreams, his goals, his _education _and what the higher-ups of the village had done for my great grandson."

His tone increased slighty with each word and his two previous students flinched slightly at the obvious implications in the last sentence.

"I was very suprised when I found out that two of my students and a trusted subordinate had a huge hand at keeping his growth and education stunted. Pray tell me, what brought you to make that decision?" he asked with his anger more noticeable now.

Homura and Koharu gulped before the male of the two answered "Sensei, please understand, we only did what was best for the village. To protect the home your clan endeavoured to build. We couldn't allow the jinchuriki, a mere boy who housed the greatest of the Tailed Beasts, to grow strong. For the sake of the village, he had to be kept contained and easily controllable in case he lost control or betrayed us."

"And why would he lose control or betray the village?" he asked.

The two almost fidgeted on the spot before they gained enough self-control to speak, with Koharu answering this time "The village and the villagers were practically in shambles. There was much grief and anger in them, and it was hard to recover from the disaster with so many emotions running rampant in them... unless-"

"Unless they had something to focus all their grief and anger _on_. A scapegoat," Tobirama finished before throwing an icy glare at them "So you decided to use Naruto as an object for them to take out all their misery and rage on. You encouraged the villagers to mistreat him. _My_ great grandson and you knew it."

This time, it was Danzo who stepped forward "It had been my idea, Lord Second."

Tobirama's head snapped towards him with the same glare present on his face "Your idea, Danzo?"

"Yes. I had also explained why it would be best that no clan adopts the boy. It was all to get him more easily susceptible to my training methods. If I had allowed Hiruzen's soft-hearted morals to cloud the jinchuriki, it would have utterly ruined any chance of the boy becoming the perfect weapon for this village."

"What sort of training method required Naruto to go through all that pain and suffering? Also, you will not talk of my grandson in that way, at leats not in my presence." Tobirama declared.

"Oh, but Lord Tobirama, aren't we all just tools and weapons of the village. In regards to the training, it's a sort that your student highly dissaproved of."

Hiruzen decided to cut in "The purpose of his training method is not only to make the shinobi stronger but also to _'kill' _their emotions. Danzo here had founded his own branch of ANBU called The Foundation. While I couldn't adopt the boy, I could also forbid Danzo from gaining access to him as well, since The Foundation is a shinobi institution. While I know you would have wanted Naruto to become strong, sensei, I also know it certainly wasn't through Danzo's training methods."

Tobirama nodded while the old war hawk frowned just a little bit, "Lord Second, sir, wasn't it you who said that the village is the keystone and that we must do _everything _to protect it. While most might find my methods... heinous and deplorable, I was merely ensuring the Hidden Leaf's future. You of all people should understand." Danzo stated calmly but firmly.

Tobirama closed his eyes in thought, considering his answer, before speaking "During the era before the hidden ninja villages, the life expectancy of a shinobi was a little below 30. Do you know why that was?"

The elders of the Hidden Leaf Village gave him a confused look before Danzo answered "Because of the children that were sent to battle."

The Second Hokage nodded "Correct. Those were times when we couldn't afford boundaries and children from the age of 7 were sent to the battlefield. And me and my brother hated it. That's why we both strived to create a place where boundaries could finally be set, where children can have a childhood and where parents didn't have to bury their children so very oftenly. While I wasn't foolish enough to believe that there weren't going to be darker times and drastic measures made, that was no reason not to try and mantain peace for as long as possible."

Tobirama turned towards Danzo "That's why I wouldn't have wanted you to train Naruto in your heinous and deplorable methods, regardless of my relation to him, because while I would defend the village and ensure it's future with all my strength and genius, I would _always _have boundaries that you appreantly lack. Such disregard of moral values is going to do nothing but set this village on a path of corruption that would ensure nothing but it's own doom." he declared with firm resolve.

The four elders stared at him as he practically spilled his guts out.

"And besides, I have never truly agreed with the jinchuriki program. In my opinion, it is more of a disaster waiting to happen than a pacifier, with the three shinobi world wars being the best example. Hashirama thought that giving the other countries the Tailed Beasts would satiate their desire for power and create stability among us. It did nothing but make them crave power even more, even if it was just to protect their village and it's future, which consequently brought more war upon our lands."

Tobirama gave his equivalent of a shrug "I couldn't change his mind, but I persuaded him to not give them away for free, so we at least gained something out of it, despite my doubts."

The war hawk narrowed his eyes slightly before he huffed and left the office. Hiruzen sighed at how his old friend had turned out while the two remaining elders looked at the ground with a bit of shame present in their eyes. They both turned to their former sensei "We're sorry, Tobirama-sensei."

Tobirama just nodded, While he didn't accept it yet, it was definately aknowledged and that was something.

Hiruzen perked up when a thought hit him "Oh, sensei, regarding Naruto's training, you wouldn't mind sharing a little, would you?"

The man raised his eyebrow "Whit whom would I be sharing the training responsabilities?"

"With his godfather and Minato's sensei, Jiraiya." Hiruzen replied.

"What can you tell me about him?"

"He was a student of mine just like Orochimaru, a kage-level ninja and our top spymaster. However, despite being Naruto's gofather, the two met just a month ago, because of the title I mentioned last."

Tobirama wanted to scowl and yell in anger but reigned it in. The expression on Saru's face was one of slight sadness and resignation, but not shame, which meant there must have been no other choice. Tobirama crossed his arms in thought and considered all the facts and information. After about a minute, he came to the very obvious conclusion.

With this Jiraiya person being the top spymaster, he undoubtedly had the job of gaining as much information and protecting the village from outside forces after the Nine-tails attack, especially from the Hidden Stone if what his student said about Minato's success in the previous war was true. Not to mention that Hiruzen had also siad that it wasn't even a year later that Orochimaru betrayed the village, leaving little doubt that the spymaster got the job on acquiring as much intelligence on his actions as well.

In the end, the village mattered more, no matter how unfair it was to Naruto.

"All right, He can help. I did train you along with Hashirama. Jiraiya might have skills that he could teach Naruto that I can't."

Hiruzen nodded before turning to his ex-teammates "I suppose there was a reason you two came to see me."

Homura spoke up "We wanted to confirm the rumours of Tobirama's return. But that wasn't the only reason."

Koharu continued "Hiruzen, you may be strong and wise, but you are also old. Too old be leading this village. We need a new Hokage."

The Third Hokage sighed before speaking "You are right. The fact is I am hardly fit to lead anymore. The only thing I can do is offer wisdom from my experiences and hope that the next generation learns well. Who do you propose should be appointed?"

"We think Jiraiya is the best option." said Koharu.

Hiruzen laughed lightly, earning confused glances from the other people in the room. Tobirama voiced his confusion "What's so funny?"

Hiruzen composed himself "Jiraiya certainly has the power and skill to be a kage, but the problem is _he_ doesn't think so. He deems himself unworthy of the title and believes he's unfit for the job. Of course, I don't belive that. It was to him that I offered the title of Fourth Hokage before I did to Minato, after all." he shook his head "Another reason is because he likes to be, in his own words, free and uninhibited. I believe he would take the hat before letting someone like Danzo take it, but he won't as long as there are other options."

"If not him, then who?" Homura asked.

"If all of you are so set on a sannin, there is one other." a new voice spoke up.

Everybody got into a battle-ready stance while turning towards the newcomer. On the windowsill was crouched a large and tall man with long, spiky white hair, a green kimono and a red, sleveless coat. He also had a large scroll on his back and two red lines running down his face.

"Who are you?" Tobirama demanded harshly.

Hiruzen chuckled "It's good to see you, Jiraiya. I suppose you overheard everything that was said."

Jiraiya just nodded as he entered the office.

_I didn't even sense him_, Tobirama thought. As if feeling his gaze, the Toad Sage turned towards him and smirked slightly.

"If you're wondering how I have gone unnoticed for so long, well, it's spymaster's trade secret, Lord Second." he said somewhat smugly to the renowned sensor ninja.

Tobirama narrowed his eyes slightly before he smirked back. While it might have been a sting to his pride, it proved that the man was very good at what he did.

"So you're Naruto's godfather." Tobirama said.

Jiraiya smirk was replaced by a confused frown "How do you know about him? I heard that you wanted to train him, though I came when you were talking about why the village was built. I didn't hear what caught your interest."

"He's my great grandson."

Jiraiya had a suprised expression on his face before, to everyone's suprise, he started laughing. When he finally calmed down he spoke "Well, that explains Minato's prodigious talent and his natural skill with Teleportation ninjutsu. Who would have thought?"

Tobirama and Hiruzen chuckled lightly, while the two elders had a serious expression on their faces. When the sannin noticed, he grinned at them "C'mon, why the long faces, guys?"

"You said that another sannin could take the mantle of Hokage. While there is little doubt regarding her skills, it hardly even matters. She hasn't been seen for over a decade." Homura spoke.

"Who is she?" Tobirama asked.

Koharu turned towrds him "Your grandniece, Tsunade."

Tobirama perked up slightly at that "I see." he smiled "It would be interesting to see Tsuna again."

Jiraiya snickered at the nickname. He was definately going to hold that over her head, "Yes. She has the brains for it. More than a loafer like me."

The three elders looked down in thought before Hiruzen spoke up "Very well. You have the task of finding her and bringing her back."

He nodded before turning towards the reincarnated Hokage "You'll probably be coming too since you're going to share Naruto's training responsabilities with me. I'd like him to come as well."

Tobirama nodded before speaking "I'd like for us to leave in a week. I'd like to spend a bit of time with my descendant before we go and begin with some training. Since you taught him the Summoning jutsu, there's no doubt that you'll be teaching him some of the more advanced skills. I will too, but I'd like to spend the week smoothing out the edges in his basic skill department and some other things."

The other people looked at him with confusion written over their face. Jiraiya was the first one to voice it "I don't wanna sound like I'm doubting your teaching skills, but to do what you want to do is nigh impossible."

The undead man just smirked "I beg to differ. There is a special training method that will accelerate the speed at which he will learn. Now, before you all begin with the questions, I'd like you, Koharu and Homura, to leave the office. I need to have a private chat with these two."

The two in question looked at each other before they nodded and left without hesitation. Tobirama wasn't one to do something without a good reason. As the office door closed, he turned towards the two people left "I didn't want them to hear what I have to say next since they might be in league with Danzo. Whatever I will say now, they might have relayed to him if they stayed."

The master and student looked at each other before noddong, giving him the signal to continue.

"When I sensed Danzo's chakra I also sensed the chakra of multiple Uchiha in his right arm and eye." Tobirama said. This fact earned incredulous looks from the two, but that didn't prepare them for the next thing he was about say "That's not all. I also sensed my brother's chakra in his right arm."

They could only stand frozen and wide-eyed at the revelation. However, in the old Hokage, the expression soon turned into anger and he banged his hand against the table.

"How could I have been such a lenient_ fool_? It's my fault. I cared too much abot his opinion and our old friendship. I let him handle the darkness of the village because I was too weak and indecisive. I'm to blame as much as him" Hiruzen said dejectedly. Jiraiya just put a hand on his shoulder.

Tobirama sighed before speaking "No, it is not. Danzo is responsible for his own actions." he narrowed his eyes slightly "However, I _had_ told you to adapt and handle yourself better in the dark side of our proffesion. In all honesty, at the time of my death, your ability to handle the darker side of things wasn't as high as I preffered. Things aren't always fair and, no matter how democratic and kind you want to be, you need to be able to use underhanded tactics sometimes and put your foot down even if you may appear as a tyrant at the given moment, thus, sometimes, your subjective opinion of yourself and previous bonds with others must be put to the side. You _are _the Hokage, a leader of a _ninja _village and such things should be handled by you, not put under the power of someone else."

Hiruzen sighed dejectedly "I know, sensei, I know."

Tobirama smiled "Nevertheless, I don't regret choosing you as the Third Hokage. While you may have your faults, we all do, there was no one better."

Hiruzen smiled back "Thank you, sensei. However, that still leaves the question of why he has Uchiha and Hashirama's chakra in his arm."

Tobirama nodded "Speaking of Uchiha, that is something else I wanted to know about. I couldn't sense any Uchiha chakra, except from one single source. What happened to them?"

The old kage looked down in sadness "The Uchiha clan is almost extinct. Almost all of them died in the Uchiha Massacre 5 years ago, killed by their own heir and scion in his mad quest to test his own limits. Or at least, that's what we made the public think."

Tobirama crossed his arms "Explain."

Jiraiya looked at his sensei with a suprised expression "What do you mean that's what you made the public think? _Didn't_ Itachi do it to test himself?"

Hiruzen shook his head "No. The story of Madara using his Sharingan to take control of the Nine-tails isn't exatcly a secret, and with the beast appearing in a cloud of smoke in the middle of the village, it narrowed down the options of who to blame the attack on. The Nine-tails certainly didn't Body Flicker to the middle of the village." he said the last part with a chuckle.

"If this wasn't such a serious situation, I would have laughed." Tobirama said.

"Anyway, there is also the fact that many swore they saw the Sharingan in it's eyes instead of it's usual red ones with a slit pupil. The Uchiha were being ostracized and were under heavy suspicion of the ninja populace. Eventually, the Uchiha were fed up with the treatment and secretely started plotting a coup d'etat to ovethrow the village." Hiruzen said.

Tobirama scowled, but did not look particularly suprised. In fact he sort of expected something like this to happen. The Uchiha were too proud to adhere to the Will of Fire philoshophy and wouldn't stand for a lack of autonomy. Admittedly, he had his own part in seperating the Uchiha from the rest of the village, pushing their quarters to the outskirts of the village since the Uchiha Police Force headquarters was situated there. But even that was because they didn't agree with the reasons for founding the village in the first place, resisted his and his brother's attempt of progressively breaking the boundaries between the clans and the disparatness of the villagers.

As Hiruzen continued explaining, saying how Itachi Uchiha thought like a kage at the mere age of 7, how he put the Hidden Leaf Village ahead of everything and resisted his clan's attempts to turn him towards their cause, eventually killed them all, except his precious little brother to keep the next shinobi world war from happening and became an S-rank criminal in the very village he did so much to protect, Tobirama couldn't help but be rather awed at Itachi's bravery, self-sacrifice and selflesness. The boy might have a stronger dedication to the Will of Fire than Tobirama himself. It was hard to concieve that an Uchiha would be the most fervent follower of the Senju philoshophy.

Tobirama smiled "He reminds me of Kagami. He had also been able to overcome the Curse of Hatred and put the village before his own clan."

Hiruzen smiled at remembering the dear friend of his. It was sad that he died so young, despite being a ninja.

However, Tobirama's face turned grim not long after that "Although, I disagree with him telling his brother to hate and seek revenge on him. I can already tell that this Sasuke has fallen for the Curse."

Hiruzen sighed in sadness "I believe so. He used to be a kind and sensitive child. Now he is rather cold, distant, apathetic and cares for his goal to come to fruition more than anything. He may have friends, though I worry if he would give them all up if it meant power to kill Itachi. Orochimaru has already given him the Curse Mark, and there is little doubt that it might be slowly corrupting him. It is Orochimaru's plan that Sasuke willingly comes to him as his endeavour to learn all jutsu would skyrocket if he gains his eyes, not to mention the destruction of the Village Hidden In The Leaves."

"I suggest we leave him be for the moment. We'll come up with something eventually." Tobirama concluded.

Hiruzen and Jiraiya nodded at his decision. Prying too much might encourage the boy to leave the village even more.

"If that is all, I suggest we all prepare. Lord Second, if you want a more thorough assesment of Naruto's skill, I suggest you go to Kakashi Hatake, his jounin sensei. He is a man of average height with gravity-defying white hair, his headband put over his left eye and the lower part of his face covered in a mask and he wears the standard Hidden Leaf uniform. Here is his adress." Jiraiya said as he gave him the slip of paper containing the adress, "You should also know that Kakashi was Minato's student and that he is aware of Naruto's relation to him."

Tobirama nodded and, just as he was about to Body Flicker out of the office, Jiraiya spoke one last thing "Oh, you should probably work a lot on Naruto's chakra control this week. He's gonna need it for the jutsu I want to teach him."

* * *

Kakashi Hatake was a man of many regrets who lost many people important to him during his short life, even for a shinobi. He fell into depression an unhealthy amount of times and has obsessed with the past more times than he could count. After aknowledging that point, he started finding ways to cope with it all and what better way than hobbies; like reading adult literature in public.

We can find the man doing just that in the late afternoon while returning from helping with the reconstruction. Luckily, most of the damage will be repaired within several days, maybe little over a week. That's how lucky they were, considering being attacked by two different forces, one being another Hidden Village and the other lead by a sannin.

As he somehow put the keys in the lock in his first try, still being engrossed in the 'magnificent' piece of 'literature', he turned them towards the left, unlocking it and entered his humble abode.

When he turned on the lights, he couldn't help but feel that something was... _off. _He lowered his book as he discretely went for his kunai and shuriken and was suprised at what he was seeing. On one of his chairs was sitting a man in blue armor with a white fur collar over a black suit. The man had three read lines on his face and spiky white hair not unlike his own. Of course, he immediately recognised the man. The rumours of his return have already spread like wildfire.

While he knew he should have done something respectful like bowing and apologising for trying to draw his kunai at him, he decided to do things his usual Kakashi way. He eye smiled, waved and raised his book back a little while saying "Hello there, Lord Second Hokage."

The man raised his eyebrow at the masked ninja's attitude, but wasn't offended in the least. In fact he was a little amused, proving visibly by letting out a small chuckle. "Kakashi Hatake, I presume?" he asked.

Kakashi turned more serious, closed his book and put it on the shelf next to the door, "Yes, sir."

"I came here to talk to you about one of your students; Uzumaki Naruto."

Kakashi raised his eyebrows in suprise. He wondered how his cute, little, knuckleheaded student might have drawn the legendary man's attention.

"Oh? What about him?"

"His skills mostly, as well as his performance on missions."

"May I ask why?" the masked ninja asked.

"I want to train him." Tobirama replied.

Though Kakashi had guesses when the undead Hokage had said he wanted to know about Naruto's skill and mission performance, he was still somewhat stunned. He decided to voice his confusion "Is there a particular reason why you are interested, Lord Second?"

"Yes, though it will be kept a secret at the moment. It was decided between me and Hiruzen that Naruto would be the one to decide whether the information will be released publicly or kept amongst a selected few. I've decided to tell you since you're already aware that he's the Fourth Hokage's son. Naruto Uzumaki is my great grandson."

If he was suprised before, now he was frozen in his spot without finding the ability to move anyof his muscles. After half a minute of staring wide-eyed he finally regained enough composure to say a single word.

"Oh."

Tobirama just nodded.

"How?"

"I had a daughter who married a man named Kazuya Namikaze after my death and together they had a child who was Minato himself. You probably know the rest of the story." Tobirama said.

Kakashi nodded and put his chin in his right hand in contemplation. After a little while he spoke "Regarding his potential, Naruto might have more of it than anyone in his generation. Regarding his skill, he is definately one of the better ones in the village, but what's rather problematic is that his skills are far lower than they could have been."

"Sarutobi told me about his sabotaged education and somewhat stunted growth as a shinobi." Tobirama said.

"Initially, his taijutsu was sloppy and his moves severely lacked finesse. He didn't lack strength, being one of the physically strongest among his peers and having beyond average density of muscles, and he didn't _truly _lack speed and agility, it's just that the lack of said finesse made it inefficient. After all, he could lead chunin and jounin on a chase across the village for over an hour after playing one of his pranks." this time Tobirama actually laughed a little; Hiruzen didn't mention this to him "I believe his taijutsu was sabotaged even after Iruka Umino became his main faculty teacher since Mizuki was biased against Naruto." Kakashi concluded.

"Iruka Umino is one of the curent teachers at the Academy and he wasn't prejudiced against him, despite both his parents dying in the Nine-tails attack. He had tried to help Naruto but the damage had been done so there wasn't much he could do and it wouldn't have helped either of them if Iruka had played favorites. When Naruto had failed the graduation exam several months ago, Mizuki had told him he could pass if he steals the Forbidden Scroll and learnt a jutsu from it. While the ploy might have seemed obvious to us, Naruto had been desperate and was taught to trust the teachers. We can't blame him for that."

Tobirama nodded in understanding. Kakashi was right, Naruto couldn't be blamed considering his position.

"And I assume that the jutsu he learned was my Shadow Clone Jutsu." the Second Hokage said.

Kakashi eye smiled "Sort of. It was actually the A-ranked version of the jutsu; the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu. It took him less than an hour."

Tobirama smiled in pride. That right there was proof of the latent talent his great grandson had.

"I had managed to work out a fair amount of kinks in his taijutsu and increase his strength and speed. To others, it might not seem much, but to me the amount he improved, taking into account how horrendous it was at the beginning, the fact that I had two other students to train, that taijutsu wasn't the only thing I was trying to improve and all the missions that took up a good deal of our time, was close to astounding. There was definately hidden potential there." Kakashi said.

"Again, I had two other students so I couldn't focus only on him, thus he still wasn't improving at the speed he could have been. I managed to teach him the Shadow Shuriken Jutsu and the Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu, while genjutsu, due to his massive reserves and lackluster chakra control, were temporarily out of reach. I had also taught him about misdirection and tactics, which he had taken better to than I had expected, though he was still rather impulsive and hot-headed."

Tobirama smirked "Don't worry. I'll take care of that. I have my ways."

Kakashi chuckled "Duly noted." but then his face became very serious "But I haven't told you the most interesting thing I noted about him and the thing that proves his hidden potential the most."

Tobirama looked at him expectantly. Kakashi took that as his cue to continue "When Naruto fights in close quarters, he can be average and somewhat sloppy at first, but not for long. When Naruto's instincts start to kick in and his body becomes... let's say warmed up, a drastic improvement in his technique becomes easily visible."

Tobirama raised an eyebrow and silently gave the signal to continue, "In hand-to-hand combat, no person fights at their very best in the first several seconds. The body needs to get warmed up and used to the thrill of the fight and the person let's mostly their instincts, reflexes and muscle memory guide them." Tobirama nodded "Naruto is no different. However, the difference in skill he shows when he fights at the very beginning and when he... 'gets into it' is dramatic. I have rarely ever seen something like this. At the start, his technique wasn't anything impressive due to the sabotaged learning, but when his insticnts and reflexes start kicking in as he gets used to the rush, it's like he undergoes a transformation. Of course, he still isn't nearly strong enough to take me or even a high-genin level Hyuga down, but it certainly makes things very difficult for most other genin, even older ones." Kakashi said with a bit of awe in his voice.

"Naruto learns best by doing things instead of learning the theory behind it and it hasn't escaped my notice that when you give him some proper guidance, if you let him learn through his body, he'll get it down quickly. The only things that he hasn't caught onto as quickly were things that involved a certain measure of chakra control. And yet, despite Sasuke having significantly lower chakra reserves than him and initially better chakra control, they got the tree-climbing down pat at exactly the same time."

Tobirama let out a small grin "I understand. Thank you. This information will be very valuable for the training exercises I'll come up with. Since you taught him the Headhunter jutsu, I assume he has an affinty for Earth."

"I don't actually know what his main affinity is, but I don't think it's Earth. His father had the primary affinity for Fire and two secondary affinities, Wind and Lightning, while his mother had two primary affinities, Wind and Water."Kakashi said while rubbing the back of his head "I've been planning on introducing Naruto to elemental training after the Chunin Exams since his huge reserves of powerful chakra point him towards ninjutsu more than anything."

"Based on that, Naruto most likely has the primary affinity for Wind, though it's also very possible that it's Fire or that he'll have the same one I have, Water. While I encouraged individuality in my students and trusted subordinates, I very much wish for me to be able to teach someone the secrets behind my Water Style jutsu." Tobirama said.

"Regarding his intellect, that is sort of complicated. He doesn't always understand the explenations given to him, though it's gotten better now, and he can be rather dense and impulsive. However, in combat he can come up with the most unpredictable, but efficient tactics on the fly and his pranks are usually quite elaborate and even I am sometimes impressed with the thought and detail put into them. He also has a certain wisdom and instinctual understanding of certain topics, usually regarding ethics and the fashion people approach certain parts of their life, especially painful ones."

The man rubbed his chin for a few moments in thought before turning to Kakashi "I'm sorry for taking your student, Kakashi. I promise that if the occasion arises, I'll ask for some help from you."

The masked man just waved his hand, even though he was a bit sad that he couldn't really teach the son of his sensei "It's alright. I believe you'll be able to bring out the strength that is deep within Naruto. Besides, I need to train Sasuke, as well as find someone for Sakura. Not to mention a possible replacement for your descendant."

Tobirama narrowed his eyes "Kakashi, favoritism is highly unproffesional and anyone who believes in the Will of Fire should frown upon it."

Kakashi's eye widened before he started waving his hands nervously, trying to appease the undead kage "No, no, no. I'm not trying to play favorites with my students, Lord Second. This is something that goes deeper than that. I'm practically the only one who can _properly _train Sasuke."

With that he lifted his headband and Tobirama's eyes widened at the sight of the Sharingan. Kakashi gestured at it "A gift from a friend of mine." he said with sadness lacing his voice.

Tobirama shook his head "That is still no reason to play favorites." The man might be the only one who is capable of training the young Uchiha, but that isn't nearly a good enough reason to ignore his other students. If the Sharingan wielder had wanted to train Sasukes solo, he could have just apprenticed him.

"I most certainly agree, but like I said, it goes deeper than that. The Council had chosen me specifically to train Sasuke in order to keep from going down a dark path. He was full of rage and had a lust for power, thus the council feared that any sort of temptation from outside forces or Sasuke's own disatisfaction with his growth in the village would cause him to leave, making it very likely for the Sharingan to fall into enemy hands."

Tobirama somewhat begrudgingly aknowledged his point "And with Orochimaru giving him this Curse Mark and promising power along with it, there are chances he might willingly leave the Hidden Leaf Village to join him." he sighed "Alright, I concede your point. Do what you must, but find your third student a capable teacher. You cannot leave her behind in the dust, while her teammates are practically receiving special treatment."

Kakashi nodded and then eye smiled "You wanted to know about Naruto and his mission performance? Well, you could say his performance on mission and Naruto's personality overlap quite a lot."

Tobirama listened to the man with rapt attention as he spoke about his great grandson.

* * *

In a room, in the Hidden Leaf's main hospital, a young teen with spiky blond hair and whisker marks on his cheeks lied on one of the beds. He hadn't received much injuries, but Naruto's fight wwith Neji and Gaara had taken a lot out of him and his body was due for some rest. It had been an entire day since the epic battle with Shukaku.

As his body was finally satisfied with the amount of strength it had recovered, it started rousing itself from the deep void of dreamless slumber and blue eyes fluttered open. Naruto stared at his sorroundings and immediately noticed the perpetual white of the hospital, giving him a clue of his whereabouts.

Memories slowly started coming back to him; Gaara in his initial jinchuriki state, Sakura trapped, the One-tails appearing, summmoning Gamabunta, winning and Sasuke telling him that his female teammate was alright. He couldn't help but grin "I did it. I saved them. I saved everybody."

Just as he said that, a nurse came into his room and smiled when she noticed him awake.

"Hello, Nauto Uzumaki. How do you feel?" she asked.

He sat up and moved his body and limbs a bit "Almost perfect, just a few small aches here and there." he smiled, grateful at his accelerated healing rate.

The nurse nodded and went towards the wall to his right. When he turned his head, he finally noticed a small seal formula on the wall. He stared at it in confusion before looking at the nurse for clarification.

She smiled at him "A very, um... special person wishes to see you. He left this seal on the wall and said for one of the staff to pump a bit of chakra into it when you awoke."

He stared at her, stunned. A _very special person_ wanted to see him. A bit of warmth filled him, but even more curiosity. Who the heck is this person?

She stepped after putting a bit of chakra into the formula, as the man had advised them to do so, and after a few seconds, the person appeared out of thin air. The nurse and Naruto jumped at the sudden arrival, with Naruto's ninja training also kicking in, his hand reaching for the pouch he normally wore on his hip only to notice it missiong. He mentally slapped his forehead for forgetting he was in hospital robes.

He stared at the man in blue armor with white spiky hair that reminded him of Kakashi and Pervy Sage. Maybe he was a relative of one of them. However, as he stared at him he couldn't help but find him familiar for some reason.

Tobirama noticed his hand reaching for the missing pouch and smiled at his preparedness. He turned towards the last occupant of the room and bowed his head a bit "Thank you for contacting me, I'd like to have a private conversation with him."

"Alright, but I need to do just a few short tests. It won't take long." she said after regaining her composure.

As she did the tests and asked her patient some questions, she declared he was perfectly healthy and left the room. Naruto hadn't stopped staring at the man for the most part during the check up.

"Congratulations on your victory against Shukaku yesterday. I heard it was a great fight." the man said with a small grin on his face.

Naruto smiled at the praise, but still remained a little suspicious "Thanks, I was doing it to protect my friends."

"A noble reason."

"Um, who are you? Have we met before cause you look a bit familiar." Naruto asked

The man chuckled "I should think so. You do see my face on most days."

Naruto's eyebrows went up "Really? I think I'd recognise you if I saw you almost everyday."

The man chuckled again, which annoyed the boy "I never said you see _me_ almost everyday. I said you see my face almost everyday."

The young ninja furrowed his brow in confusion "But the only faces I see everyday are the ones of the Hokage Mon-.." his eyes widened when he took in the man's features more closely. He jumped from his bed and went towards the window to look at the monument. As his eyes landed on the Second Hokage's face, he recognised the identity of the man in his hospital room.

He pointed a finger at him and yelled "YOU'RE A GHOST?!"

This time, Tobirama outright laughed for the first time since being brought back. The sound reverberated around the room and it took him close to 30 seconds to reign in his laughter. Kakashi was right. Being around the kid was definately going to be interesting.

"Not exactly. I was brought back via Reanimation jutsu which was used by Orochimaru in the inavasion. He wanted me and my brother, the First Hokage, to fight Hiruzen." he said.

Naruto scowled in anger. That snake bastard tried to kill his grandfather figure and he tried to do it by using the previous Hokage's. He knew that both of them were his teachers as he told him a couple of times and usually called the Second Hokage Tobirama-sensei. _When I get my hands on that bastard, I'm gonna choke him with his own tongue _he thought.

But then his eyes widened again "Wait! what about the old man? Is he alright?" he asked with desperation in his voice.

"The Third Hokage is fine. The Reanimation jutsu is a jutsu I created. What Orochimaru didn't know is that I created another jutsu that destroys the contract between the user and the reanimated soul. I freed myself from his control and he escaped when I attacked him." Tobirama assured.

Naruto exhaled and smiled in relief. The old man was alright and now he knew that it was ok to trust the man in front of him. After all, he is the Second Hokage and was the one who taught the old man about the Will of Fire that he so oftenly preached about. That still left the question of why he wanted to see him. Maybe he recognised his awesome skills. He did mention the fight with Gaara.

Why are you here? I mean, um, is there a reason you wanted to see me, sir?" he asked as politely as possible. While he still didn't have the best manners or social graces, Kakashi and Hiruzen did pound some of them into his head. Not to mention that the man in front of him is the _freaking Second Hokage._ It would do him no justice to be impolite to the man.

Tobirama smiled one of the warmest smiles he ever smiled "That's because you are my one and only descendant. You, Naruto Uzumaki, are my great grandson."


	3. Chapter 3 (Revised)

I do not own Naruto.

Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

_"That's because you're my one and only descendant. You, Naruto Uzumaki, are my great grandson."_

Naruto's mind froze when the Second Hokae uttered those words. On the inside, however, his thoughts and emotions were running uncontrollably like headless chickens; it was hard to tell what he truly felt.

Ever since he could remember, he always craved for a family; always wanted to know who his parents were. The old man had told him they died in Nine-tails attack, though the blond did wonder if he had lied to spare him the sorrow and dissapointment. He had always considered the option that his parents hadn't wanted him and had abondened him.

Maybe his parents had done something awful and left him to fend for himself. It would certainly explain why the villagers glared at him all the time, denied him food and clothes and pulled their children away from him. Secretely, despite Hiruzen's words, it had seemed the most likely option.

Until Mizuki told him everything.

The revelation scared him at first, but it gave him closure as well. It was horrible, but at least he knew. The old man had told him that the Fourth Hokage had wanted everyone to treat him like a hero for keeping the almighty beast caged, sacrificing the life of a normal person for the safety of the village, even if he didn't have a choice. He felt honoured that the Yellow Flash had chosen him, but also believed he was just born in the wrong place in the wrong time. However, Hiruzen told him if the safety of the village was taken into consideration, as ninja always do, it was quite the opposite.

It still didn't change things much. He knew why, but was still mistreated, though the headband that represented him as a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village did help a bit. He still wondered if some relative of his was out there somewhere.

But now, right in front of him, stood a legendary ninja who claimed to be his great grandfather. A Hokage no less. Frankly, it was too incredible for the cynical part of his mind to believe.

"Y-You're kidding, right?" he asked shakily.

Tobirama crossed his arms "I most certainly am not. You are my great grandson and I have the documents here to prove it." He pushed a bit of chakra into a miniature storage seal on his shoulder armor and, in puff of smoke, appeared a document which he handed to the still flabbergasted young ninja. Naruto took them, his hands shaking a bit, and slowly started reading.

After about a minute re-reading the document several times, tears started forming in his eyes. In the piece of paper he was holding was the evidence of his relation to the Second Hokage, who was brought back to life by Orochimaru. A part of him didn't know whether to thank the snake-loving phedophile or continue cursing him for trying to harm grandpa Hokage.

With this knowledge he did the thing he always wanted to do if he ever met a member of his family.

Naruto jumped out of bed and hugged Tobirama with all the strength he could muster, burying his wet eyes in his armor as he cried tears of joy. No longer will he be alone, wondering where or who his family is. That hole in his heart isn't empty anymore.

Tobirama was a bit startled by his reaction, even though he expected it somewhat due to the boy's childhood. Although the man wasn't one for overtly sentimental moments, he figured his grandson needed it. With that thought in mind, he gently put one hand on his back and the other on his head, letting Naruto let the pain of loneliness go. Tobirama knew the dangers of keeping one's emotions bottled up, though maybe he wasn't the one to talk.

After a short while, he decided that the embrace has lasted long enough "Naruto, I know that you're both happy and hurting, but if you don't stop with the tears, I'll never get to tell you the other reason why I'm here."

Naruto nodded against him and reluctantly separated from him. He sniffled a bit and looked up at him "The other reason?"

Tobirama nodded "Since you have no other family, I'll be the one training you."

Naruto's eyes widened. To be trained by the Hokage is a once in a lifetime offer "Really? What about Kakashi-sensei and my team?"

"While your team won't truly be disbanded, you won't be training together as oftenly either. Each of you will be trained separately by a teacher. Kakashi will focus on Sasuke, Jiraiya and me will focus on you while someone else will focus on your other teammate."

Naruto crossed his arms and pouted "Figures that Kakashi would train Sasuke. He is his favorite, after all."

Tobirama narrowed his eyes "Naruto, such an attitude is unbecoming of a ninja. Petty emotions will only blind your judgement. Do not think that Kakashi doesn't have a good reason for doing things."

"But-"

"If you're talking about the Chunin Exams, I already know about that. Think it through. He couldn't train both of you since there was a chance that you would fight each other and since Sasuke had the Sharingan, it was reasonable that he would teach Sasuke and try to find an instructor for you. Another reason is if he had to focus on both of you, neither of you would have advanced your skills the necessary amount in one month's time. It was more practical for each student to have a separate teacher." he concluded.

Naruto tried to find a flaw in the man's logic but only came up with one "Yeah, but he gave me the closet pervert. That man was pathetic."

"According to Kakashi, Ebisu gained the rank of special jounin _because _of his teaching skills. He told me of his eccentrities, but he also told me he is a very shrewd and perceptive man. Appereances are of little importance in the ninja world; we must always look underneath the underneath."

Naruto tried to argue, but in the end just looked down in shame and nodded in acceptance "You're right. I'm sorry."

"Raise your head, Naruto." the boy looked at the man's stern but understanding visage "It's not me you should be apologizing to, though I'm sure the two of them won't hold it against you."

Naruto nodded "Well, Ebisu _did _teach me water-walking and he did explain to me about my shitty chakra control and why I sometimes couldn't perform jutsu right."

"Those are very important lessons for us to know. They are basics, the foundation upon which we build and discover ourselves as ninja. Without it, being a shinobi is pointless." Tobirama explained.

Naruto looked at him with determination and Tobirama smirked slightly.

"You should also know that Kakashi has far more faith in you than you might think. He might not have been able to train you as much as you would have liked, but he believes in the potential you posses."

Naruto was wide-eyed for a moment before he grinned brightly "Really?"

Tobirama nodded and he just continued grinning, promising himself to treat Kakashi to a bowl of ramen sometime in the future. Who in the world could deny ramen? It's nigh inconcievable.

A thought came to Naruto and he again looked at the document. After a little while, he looked at his great grandfather "It says here that my father is Minato Namikaze. I've heard of it before but I can't put my finger on it. Now that you're here, grandpa Tobirama, maybe the old man can tell me who my parents were."

_Grandpa Tobirama, _the Second Hokage didn't know how to feel about that as he felt a bit of warmth both for being adressed in such an affectionate manner and out of embarrassment for being adressed as old. He's 49, though he looks in his late-thirties due to the strong chakra and lifeforce that Senju posses. Not as strong as that of an Uzumaki, but damn impressive none the least.

"Hiruzen told me who he was. You'll be happy to know you see his face on most days as well." Tobirama answered him.

Naruto was wide-eyed at that and, like earlier, went to the window to look at the Hokage Monument. One did not need to be a genius to figure out which one of them was his father. As he looked at the Fourth Hokage's face, he started remembering the pictures of him he saw in his school books and in the Hokage's office and felt like kicking himself. The spiky blond hair, blue eyes...

The fact that he had chosen Naruto as the vessel for the Nine-tails.

It hit him like a ton of bricks.

"H-He's really my f-father? The Fourth Hokage?" he asked shakily.

"Yes." Tobirama responded.

"The Yellow Flash? The hero of the Hidden Leaf Village?" **Crack! **There were suddenly spiderwebs on the wall where he had put his hand on. Naruto was shaking in anger and desbelief "The one who sealed the Nine-tails into me and made my life a LIVING HELL?! HIS OWN SON?!"

Light sobs started coming from him and tears fell from his eyes. How the hell could his own father do this to his own son? What _kind _of parent _does that_? What kind of parent condemns their child to a life with no friends; to a life of being shunned and mistreated?

"Why? Why would he do this?" he cried.

"Enough!" the Second Hokage said sternly.

Naruto snapped his towards the man and was suprised at the stern expression present on his face. He had been expecting at least a bit of sympathy from his grandfather "W-W-What?"

"What did you expect him to do? Ask another parent to give up their own child when he couldn't do the same thing? It is an unpleasent thought but the only way to save the village was to seal it inside you." he continued with the same stern voice.

"B-But.."

"None of that." he said before pausing. His great grandson was in a lot of pain because of the beast imprisoned in his body and it all came down to his father who sealed it inside him. He is confused, upset and doesn't fully comprehend the position Minato was in, so being direct and blunt, which was Tobirama's prefered method a fair amount of times, might not be the best way to go about things.

Nevertheless, he needs to get his message across. He sighed before speaking in a more understanding voice "I understand if you feel betrayed and hurt, but you must look at things from his perspective as well. If you had been in his position, would you have been able to ask another parent to let their child to becoming a jinchuriki while your own was sleeping soundly in your home? He was the Hokage. It was _his_ duty to protect the village and in the future it might be yours as well."

Naruto tried to argue at first but eventually gave up. Tobirama was right; there was no way he could have asked a parent to foresake their child of a normal life when he couldn't do the same, _especially _if he was Hokage. He sat down on the bed and looked down in shame, sorrow and resignation.

"I understand." he said. Tobirama sighed and sat next to him "Do you?"

He nodded his head "Yeah. It was just a little hard to believe. I've never had a parent before, but looking at the other families, it was easy to see that it was a parent's duty to protect and love their child. When I heard that dad condemned me to being a jinchuriki, effectively ruining my childhood... it just went against everything I believed about family. I understand now that my father probably didn't want to do what he did, but as Hokage he had no other choice."

"That's good. I'm glad that you don't resent your father for what he did. I also want you to understand why Sarutobi kept from you the identity of your parents. I don't want you jumping to conclusions this time and know that he had a good reason. It would be best if he explained it to you himself. "

Naruto nodded before sending him a questioning look "Jinchuriki?"

"Official name for people with tailed beasts sealed inside of them."

"Like me and Gaara?"

"Yes. In any case, how do you feel?"

Naruto sniffed one more time before grinning "I'm okay. I _am_ the son of the Fourth and the great grandson of the Second Hokage."

Tobirama smirked "Good. Now, are you ready to begin your training?"

Naruto jumped out of bed "Hell yeah. Just let me get my clothes on." He opened the cabinet next to his bed but instead of finding his orange jumpsuit he found a differnt set of clothes, mostly black and blue. He turned towards Tobirama with a guestioning look "Where are my clothes?"

"Those are your clothes." Naruto opened his mouth to protest but Tobirama cut in before he could "No arguements! Your clothes were too bright-colored and would have easily given your position away in any stealth-based situation. I chose these clothes because they are of a more neutral color and better suited for blending in."

When he had found the juimpsuit that his great grandson usually wore, he had been somewhat horrified. How had he survived this long with that abomination on him? In the ninja world, it's practically suicide incarnate, even if Naruto had no actual intention of commiting it. But that's when it hit him. It's the very fact that it was so easily noticeable that he was wearing it.

Tobirama figured that he wore it to help him get the attention he lacked from other people and that he still hadn't gotten over it, which subcounciously gave him the compulsion to keep wearing it. With the clothes he bought Naruto he will be killing two birds with one stone. He would be keeping his great grandson alive for _at least _a little while longer and ditching the orange jumpsuit for the new clothes might partially help him get over some of the issues he has with attention-seeking and the village.

Of course, there was always the fact that Naruto might simply like orange and in that case, Tobirama will just as simply beat it out of him during training.

"Stop procrastinating and put them on." Tobirama said firmly. Naruto obeyed and put the new set of clothes on. When he was done, he created a shadow clone to look at himself. In the end, it wasn't bad at all.

He wore black, ANBU-style pants with tape around his shins, a mid-blue, skin-tight T-shirt with a short sleeved mesh shirt underneath it, black sandals and tape around his forearms with silver steel bracers over the upper part and two blue straps over the underside. He kept the same blue Hidden Leaf headband that Iruka gave him as well as a pouch on each of his thighs.

All in all, he looked like an actual ninja.

Naruto grinned and turned towards his great grandfather "If you had been trying to win me over with gifts, you would have been off to a _really_ great start."

Tobirama just huffed with a small smirk "We'll see about that when we begin with your training. Now, let us leave. We've spent enough time in here as it is." With that he opened and jumped out the window, Naruto following suit.

* * *

Kakashi was in a bit of a bind. He had been thinking on who to assign to be Sakura's mentor. There were plenty of skilled shinobi in the Hidden Leaf, but not much, if any, that would train her well enough not to fall behind her teamates, or at least not too much.

Sakura doesn't have a field in which she is particularly talented except for chakra control and intellect. Her excellent chakra control and formidable-for-her-age intelligance obviously meant that she was best suited for genjutsu and medical jutsu, but therein lies the problem.

Apart from Kurenai, who has her own team to train, there aren't really any true genjutsu specialists in the village and while the medical corps. would be good for basics and a bit beyond that, it was essentially a waste for someone of her aptitude for the field. Still, basics and a bit beyond were a good start and it's better than nothing.

But that's not all; while it was good to have a specialty or two, a ninja shouldn't slack off in the departments that they're average at or below. It leaves too many holes in a shinobi's fighting style and it was without doubt that there _will_ come an enemy who could exploit them.

Sakura is in a close to desperate need of taijutsu and physical training, with her lacking stamina, speed and close-combat prowess. A weapon of sorts wouldn't be bad either, considering her fairly weak body. Her teacher would need to be able to cover all that and more.

Thankfully, she seems to have a desire to grow stronger lately. Unfortunately, it stems from her low confidance in her abilities, despite being critical of others more often than not. She would also need someone who could instill the proper shinobi mindset into her. Dieting and taking care of your hair aren't exactly common topics among trained kunoichi, except if the kunoichi are trying to infilrate an enemy base or village.

He had eventually settled for one he was not so sure about. It's not that this person lacked skill (quite the opposite in fact), it's more that he didn't want to traumatise his cute, little genin. There is also the case that the person might not be willing to accept. Hence the bind he was in.

However, he was close to desperate himself, not visibly of course, being engrossed in Jiraiya's infamous smut novel, and steeled his resolve before knocking on the person's door.

After hearing some shuffling inside, a female voice answered "Who is it?"

"Kakashi."

She opened the door and looked at him in slight suprise, though Kakashi noticed that she had one hand behind her back, probably holding a kunai. He smiled at her, glad for her lack of naivete and gullibility; she could teach- well, _beat _is more likely- the same mindset to Sakura.

After checking it was indeed her colleague, she grinned cheekily "Well, this is a suprise. What can little, old Anko do for you?"

* * *

After reaching their destination, Naruto noticed it was the same one where he had taken his true genin test along with his team. He feels a wave of nostalgia wash over him and smiles, despite the embarrasing situations he had found himself in. It was here that Kakashi had told them 'Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum'.

Unintentionally, he had voiced the phrase out loud and Tobirama looked at him with a raised eyebrow, but grinned a little nonetheless, "That's a good perspective to have. There is litttle to no point in completing a mission if you sacrifice your comrades for it. That's not what being a shinobi is about."

Naruto looked confused for a moment and for a moment thought that his grandfather could read his mind before he realized he had spoken out loud. He rubbed the back of his head while grinning somewhat sheepishly "Yeah. Kakashi told us that when we passed. He made a test where we were pitted against each other with teamwork being what the whole test was about. We had to put the squad ahead of ourselves. I acted really stupidly for the most part and got tied to one of the stumps."

Tobirama chuckled a bit at the mental picture while feeling his respect for Kakashi grow a little "Must have been entertaining to watch." Naruto grumbled a little "But you can let me in on it some other time. Now, we have come here to train and I promise you, Naruto, it's gonna take a great amount of dedication and toil."

Naruto just grinned determinately "There is no shortcut to becoming Hokage. I'm ready for whatever you got, believe it!"

The Second Hokage felt pride swell at his great grandson's words. Couldn't have said it better himself. He reached into his pouch and pulled out two pieces of paper, one small and blank and the other one being bigger with various simbols and kanji written on it.

"What do you know about elemental jutsu?" Tobirama questioned him.

Naruto scratched his head with his free hand "Well, I've seen Sasuke use those fireballs of his and that lightning jutsu. I've also seen Zabuza use several water style jutsu and this girl from the Hidden Sand use wind."

Tobirama frowned a bit at the crude answer but still nodded "There are five main elements and they are Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning and Wind. Each of them has an element that they are superior to and an element to which they are inferior. For example, Fire is weak against Water for obvious reasons, but is strong against Wind since the wind will just fan the flames." He took a kunai and started drawing on the ground.

When he was done, Naruto saw that he drew the kanji for the five elements connected together with arrows that went into a clockwise circular motion. Tobirama pointed to the kanj for Fire "As you can see, to it's left is Water, which Fire is inferior to, and to it's right is Wind, to which it's superior. The same goes for the other elements in the drawing." Tobirama elaborated as the young ninja stared at it, trying to memorise the pattern. After about a minute he nodded.

"There are kekkei genkai that are produced through a combination of two of those elements. Kakashi told me that you encountered an Ice style user on your first mission outside of the village." Naruto nodded "The Ice style is created through the combination of Water and Wind, which also meant that this Haku had the primary affinities for those two elements."

"Primary affinities?" Naruto asked.

"Each person has an element or elements to which he or she is more attuned to. Most people have only one primary affinity with one or two secondary ones. While it is less common for a person without a nature combination kekkei genkai to have to have two main affinities, it's not rare nor unheard of either. I personally have the primary affinity for Water, with three secondary affinities for Fire, Earth and Lighning."

"Really? Cool." Naruto exclaimed.

"Settle down and don't interrupt me." Naruto closed his mouth at Tobirama's firm declaration "Anyway, the two pieces of paper I gave you will help us determine to which ones you're attuned to. This one" he raised the hand which held the blank one "will tell which are your primary affinities. And this one" he raised the one with the writing on it "is a special seal I made which will bypass your main affinity and show which are your secondary ones. Just push chakra into them and if it's Fire it will burn, Water and it'll get soggy, Earth and it'll crumble, Wind and it'll slice in half and Lighning and it will wrinkle up" he concluded as he handed the two pieces of paper to his great grandson.

Naruto nodded and pushed chakra into the blank one. After a few seconds it sliced in half a bit forcefully and violently with some pieces tearing themselves apart. Tobirama was a bit dissapointed that it wasn't Water, but there was still a great chance that it will be a secondary and the fact that Naruto had a very strong affinity for Wind wasn't anything to be truly dissapointed about. However, not two seconds after it sliced in half, the paper turned so soggy the corners started tearing themselves off due to the weight of the water.

Even Tobirama was somewhat wide-eyed at the revelation, but it was quickly replaced by a rarely seen, big smile/smirk. If ever asked, he would always deny that at that moment he pictured several slot machines with three sevens on each of them and himself yelling 'jackpot'.

"Woh. So I got Wind and Water, right?" Naruto excitedly asked. He was happy that he got the same natural affinity as his great grandfather and, to him, it represented a new kind of connection between them.

Tobirama nodded "Yes and not only that; they are both very strong. I have never seen paper cut in half that violently and only in myself have I seen a strong enough Water affinity to make the paper tear itself at the corners."

"Really?! Yeah, this is awesome!" Naruto exclaimed while bouncing. The undead Hokage let him have this moment, even though he's going to teach him to be calmer and more composed in the future.

Naruto looked at the seal after composing himself and he felt even more excited about finding his secondary affinity. He pushed some chakra into the paper and after a few seconds, the paper started turning brown and crumbling before catching fire a second later. Naruto almost squealed in delight while Tobirama raised an eyebrow, but smiled nonetheless. He had expected Lightning more than Earth due to the affinities his parents possesed, but it was technically better since he himself was more capable with Earth jutsu than Lightning.

"Congratulations, my grandson. You have two primary affinities and two secondary ones. Very few people can boast about that and the only ones I knew were Hiruzen and Mu, the Second Tsuchikage." he said proudly.

Naruto's eyebrows raised in suprise "The old man has two primary and secondary affinities?"

"Yes, with the primary being Fire and Earth and the secondary Wind and Lightning. Both of you have more potential for elemental jutsu than I had, so we now know on which field we'll focus a lot of our time and effort on during training. Of course, we won't neglect your other skills; that would be extremely foolish. Always relying on the same weapon will cause nothing but an early death. You must encourage versatility and diversity in yourself and others."

Naruto nodded before turning a bit somber "But one of my main affinities is Wind and you don't have it, not even among your secondaries. How are you going to teach me in that?"

Tobirama looked somewhat offended and crossed his arms "I may not have the affinity for Wind, but I know plenty of Wind jutsu." Naruto bewilderdly looked at him "I am at the least proficient in all five natural elements. A shinobi does not need to have an affinity for one to be able to perform the jutsus, it just makes it noticeably harder to."

Naruto smiled at him in hero-worship "You can do all five of them, grandpa Tobirama. Really?!"

"I'm not one to lie or joke around in such situations, brat." Naruto pouted a bit at the name while Tobirama's smirked just a tiny bit "Like I said, you have more potential for elemental jutsu than I had, so if I have my way, you'll be able to perform all five elements by your early twenties."

The young shinobi had stars in his eyes. He was gonna be the greatest ninja and Hokage ever and the person who is going to help him the most is standing right in front him, subtly telling him how much faith he had in Naruto. With new tears in his eyes he jumped forward and hugged Tobirama like earlier.

Tobirama raised his eyebrow at the gesture "What is the matter now?"

Naruto just sniffed and said, with as much gratitude as he could muster "Thank you."

His eyes softened a bit before he sighed and patted Naruto's head "It's alright, now stop with the waterworks. You're getting my armor wet."

Naruto reluctantly stepped back and grinned up at him, while he just shook his head and looked at the setting Sun. While he thought that he would have been able to put some training in for today, it seems they've done enough.

"That's it for today. Go to your apartment and pack your things."

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows in confusion "Why?"

"Well, you're going to be living with me from now on in the Senju compound. Did you believe that you were going to continue living on your own with me here." Tobirama said.

He just stood there frozen for a few seconds and just as he was about to start jumping around in glee, his great grandfather put his hand on his head "Just go pack and meet me in the Hokage's office in two hours." Tobirama said exasperatedly before body flickering away.

Naruto grinned and ran for his soon-to-be ex-apartment.

* * *

Naruto knocked on the door of the Hokage's office thirty minutes before he and his great grandfather agreed to meet. After hearing 'come in' from the The Third Hokage he opened the door and stepped into the room where he saw his grandfather figure doing paperwork. He grimaced at the thought of doing the same when he became Hokage. Hiruzen looked up and smiled.

"Naruto, how nice of you to visit." he said.

"Yeah, grandpa Tobirama told me about what happened when you fought the snake freak. Are you alright?" Naruto said anxiously. Even though Tobirama said he was perfectly fine, he was still unsure.

Hiruzen smiled in amusement at the way he adressed his sensei "I'm quite alright, thank you. I see you and your great grandfather have met. How did that go?"

"It was awesome. He told me he was going to train me to become the best ninja ever and today we talked about elemental jusu. It turns out I'm almost just like you, old man." Hiruzen looked at him in confusion and Naruto elaborated "I've got two primary affinities, Wind and Water, and two secondary, Earth and Fire. He also said that my two main ones were the strongest he's ever seen." he said while grinning.

The Third Hokage had an impressed and suprised look before he chuckled and smiled proudly at the blond "That's great to hear. With your affinities and Tobirama-sensei's tutelage, you'll undoubtedly be a master of the elements in the future, just like sensei and I. I'm also sure that Tobirama-sensei is beyond happy to know that he could pass on his most valuable legacy to someone; his Water style ninjutsu."

Naruto had a curious look on his face "Yeah, about that, what is grandpa Tobirama like? What was he famous for? You were his student so you gotta know."

Hiruzen had a faraway look in his eyes as he recalled the memories of his childhood and early adulthood "Tobirama-sensei was a man whose very presence commanded respect and admiration from others. While Hashirama was a lot more light-hearted and idealistic, he was significantly more realistic and pragmatic. It went in great conjuction with his unrivaled intellect; one which made most Nara clan members green with envy. Though Hashirama had been the First Hokage, Tobirama had a great, if not greater hand in managing the village. He wasn't stupid, but Hashirama wasn't _nearly _as intelligent and good at long-term planning as sensei and he always aknowledged that fact."

Hiruzen continued "He was responsible for creating a lot of our infrastructure, as well as most of the facilities and institutions that made the village work, including the ANBU Black Ops, the Uchiha Police Force and the Ninja Academy you attended. Our village wouldn't have prospered as it has without him. In fact, having created all those shinobi institutions, the Academy _and _the Shinobi Organisational System that _all_ the hidden and minor ninja villages have adopted, your great grandfather is essentially the one responsible for creating the entire system that the ninja world is lead by."

Naruto's mouth was open and his eyes were wide in awe and incredulity. He never knew that Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage and his great grandfather, had been such an incredible man. In all honesty, his achievements made the Fourth Hokage's look almost like nothing.

And he was going to be trained by him.

Hiruzen smiled in happiness that someone else aknowledges his sensei's accomplishment. With him and Hashirama being aknowledged as God of Shinobi and Minato's success in the previous war and the Nine-tails attack, Tobirama had been taking a back seat amongst the villagers admiration and respect for the Hokage's. With his unprecedented return the shinobi might take interest in his history and accomplishments again.

"He was an incredibly powerful shinobi, unmatched during his reign and very, _very _few would have dared to face him. Even the other kage feared him. He was a god among men with his overwhelming control and skill with Water style jutsu. He was the only one who could create Water jutsu out of thin air and still is. As you probably already know, he had been proficient in all five natural elements and had formidable skill in many other fields. He had always emphasized the importance of versatility and he himself was the very epitome of it." Hiruzen said.

"He is also known for creating many useful and innovative jutsu during his time, one of them being your favorite."

Naruto was gaping like a fish after that "H-he created the S-Shadow Clone Jutsu?"

"He sure did. He had been inspired to create the Shadow Clone Jutsu by observing the Clone Jutsu and other solid clones, like the Water Clone and the Rock Clone. He wanted the clones to be solid like water and rock clones, but created without an element like the regular clones and thus, the shadow clone came to existence. The special thing about these clones is that they transmit all their experiences back to the original and the other clones when dispelled." the jinchuriki was stunned; he hadn't known about that "But he created other famous jutsu as well. Do you know what jutsu The Fourt Hokage was famous for?" he asked the blonde ninja.

Naruto tilted his head slightly "Um, yeah. The Flying Thunder God Jutsu, right? He was able to teleport to seal formulas branded on his special kunai in an instant."

Hiruzen nodded "Correct, but what you don't know is that he didn't create the jutsu, Tobirama-sensei did while Minato had merely been somewhat more proficient at using it. He was highly skilled in Teleportation jutsu and had created the Flying Thunder God to compliment his immense natural speed and exceptional reflexes. He was known as the fastest ninja of his time."

Naruto gaped even wider while the new information sunk in. The very jutsu that made Minato Namikaze the Yellow Flash was actually grandpa Tobirama's. His mind suddenly went back to the hospital room earlier that day when he awoke. The nurse had said that the seal had been placed on the wall by him and when she had pushed chakra into it, the man had suddenly appeared.

"Grandpa Tobirama was really strong, wasn't he?" Naruto asked gently.

Hiruzen chuckled a slight bit "You don't know half of it. If he and Minato were to fight, I'd wager serious money on Tobirama-sensei."

Naruto just stood there silently before he began shaking a bit. Hiruzen was about to ask him if he was alright, but the young shinobi threw his fists into the air "YEEEAAAAHH! I'M GONNA BE TRAINED BY THE GREATEST HOKAGE EVER! BELIEVE IT!"

Hiruzen chuckled as Naruto stood there with his hands in the air and a gargantuan smile on his face, but it wasn't long before Naruto's expression shifted to one of realization and then to seriousness as he turned towards the old man. Hiruzen looked at him questioningly and silently gave him the signal to talk freely.

Naruto gulped, hoping that the next conversation wasn't going to ruin their relationship "Why didn't you tell me that the Fourth Hokage was my father?"

The Third Hokage was suprised for a second before turning sad and sighing "Your father had made a lot of enemies during his lifetime, especially in Hidden Stone and Hidden Cloud. It was bad enough we were recovering from the war, but the Nine-tails attack was an additional blow that left the village very vulnerable and Minato dead. If it had gotten out that he had a son, assasins and kidnappers would have been sent and I would have been able to do far too little to stop them. No offense Naruto, but if I had told you that he was your father, the chanes that you would spill, wether on purpose or accident, were far too great."

Naruto knew he was right, but his shaking fists and gritting teeth showed that he was still less than happy "Maybe, but still, I had the right to know. I-"

"Naruto, I understand and I sympathise. I do, but you must try and understand as well. Take things from my perspective, as Hokage whose duty is to protect the village at all costs. You might very well be in the future so you need to start thinking like one." Hiruzen firmly said.

"The fact is, I had to sometimes look at you as the Nine-tails jinchuriki. That doesn't mean I didn't care, but, _as Hokage_, the village mattered more. A tailed beast cannot die since it's a mass of chakra with sentience and form. If you had been killed, it would have reformed eventually in the middle of the village. Now do you understand why I couldn't tell you?"

Naruto was suprised as he wasn't aware of the fact, but finally relented and conceded the older man's point with a nod. Hiruzen sighed forlornly "The only thing I regret was not doing the best I could to improve your life. Blinded by a dangerous amount of idealism and a subjective perception of myself, you had suffered the most. For that, Naruto, I am truly sorry."

The blond took a deep breath, calming himself, let it out and looked at his grandfather figure with hurt but forgiving eyes, _really _looked at him.

He wasn't as dense and stupid as other people made him out to be. He knew that Hiruzen was too old for the job, knew he was supposed to be retired, but he still did it for the sake of the village. Seeing him now, so burdened and so old, it really hit the nail on the head. But the old man endured.

Self-sacrifice.

Naruto admired that.

But still...

"You need to retire, old man, and find somebody to replace you." he said seriously.

Hiruzen chuckled, knowing he didn't mean to be offensive "Who? You? I'm sorry, my boy, but it's a hundred years too early for you to take the mantle."

Naruto glared at him "That's not what I meant. I know I'm not ready, but you can't do it anymore either. You _know_ that."

"I know and that's why you, Tobirama-sensei and Jiraiya will be leaving the village to seach for Tsunade Senju to take the hat. She was a student of mine and one of the sannin."

"Senju?" he asked with some hopefulness evident in his voice.

"Yes, she is related to you. She is my brother's granddaughter and my grandniece, which consequently means she is your second cousin once removed." a new voiced piped in.

Naruto quickly spun while grabbing a kunai from his holster and putting himself in a defensive position. He looked at the newcomer and quickly sagged in relief when he saw it was Tobirama, though he quickly turned indignant "Why did you do that? I almost crapped my pants, you know!"

The man just stared at him blankly "Amusement." he deadpanned, at which the kid pouted a bit.

"Our mission will be to retrieve her and convince her to become the Fifth Hokage, though I personally would have just threatened to label her as an S-rank rogue ninja if she didn't. Quick and efficient." The Second Hokage said.

Hiruzen sighed "That would have dissuaded her from taking the mantle. The reason she's outside of the village is because of certain... _issues _she has with it. Forcing her to come back would be unwise. I'm sure Jiraiya will explain everything to both of you."

Tobirama just nodded and turned towards Naruto "Do you have everything you wish to take with you?" The boy nodded and showed him the storage scrolls.

There was a knock at the door and, after Hiruzen's 'come in', entered Genma with a stack of papers that needed to be signed.

"Lord Second, Naruto." he respectfully greeted them before turning towards the Third Hokage "Lord Hokage, these documents need to be filled out and signed."

Hiruzen sighed for the nth time that day "One thing for which I'll definately be grateful for is this." he said with disgust.

Tobirama nodded with an unusual look of sympathy on his face "The bane of all kage."

Naruto stared at the stack witha thoughtful look on his face, which didn't go unnoticed by the two Hokage's. The younger (technically) one decided to speak out "What is it, Naruto?"

"I'm just thinking. If the original gets the memories of the shadow clones, wouldn't I just be able to make a few of them do the paperwork without having to worry about not reading what's written on them since I'll know anyway." he said innocently.

The two stared at him while contemplating before their eyes went wide.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

That night, in the Senju compound, Naruto could still hear his great grandfather muttering 'I created the damn jutsu. How the hell did I not think of it?'

* * *

I want to inform you, my readers, that not every piece of information will be like in canon. There will be changes in order to fit the plot of the story, so don't be suprised. One of those things are the stats of some of the characters.

For starters, Anko. She will be much stronger in this story due to her desire to take down Orochimaru which motivated her to train arduously and intensely, becoming one of the strongets Hidden Leaf jonin in this story and probably the strongest Hidden Leaf kunoichi when not counting Tsunade. The main reason for her upgrade in skill is so she could be a more efficient teacher for Sakura. Here are her stats in the story:

Ninjutsu: mid 4.5

Taijutsu: -/mid 4

Genjutsu: mid/+ 4.5

Intelligence: + 3.5

Strength: mid 3

Speed: -/mid 4.5

Stamina: - 4

Hand Seals: + 3.5

Total: 31.5

**Tobirama Senju**

Ninjutsu: + 5

Taijutsu: mid/+ 5

Genjutsu: -/mid 4.5

Intelligence: + 5

Strength: + 4

Speed: + 5

Stamina: mid 5

Hand Seals: -/mid 5

Total: 38.5

**Jiraiya**

Ninjutsu: mid 5

Taijutsu: mid/+ 4.5

Genjutsu: mid/+ 3

Intelligence: -/mid 5

Strength: mid 4.5

Speed: mid 4.5

Stamina: - 5

Hand Seals: - 5

Total: 36.5

**Minato Namikaze**

Ninjutsu: -/mid 5

Taijutsu: - 5

Genjutsu: -/mid 4

Intelligence: mid/+ 5

Strength: mid/+ 4

Speed: + 5

Stamina: -/mid 5

Hand Seals: - 4.5

Total: 37.5

That's it for now. Hope you liked this chapter!


	4. Chapter 4

Here's the nest chapter.

Sorry for the longer wait. Education and everything, you know.

Anyway, I've decided to answer some reviewers in order to clear out some things:

**Diverball: **He didn't mean that he would force Tsunade to become Hokage, but merely force her to come back to the village and a Hokage _does_ have the authority to do that.

**InfernoOfChaos: **I'll use the English terms for the most part, but I will use the Japanes names and terms in some occasions. You can at least be sure that I will not use 'Project Tsuki No Me'.

**Jose19: **Naruto will most likely _not_ learn the Reanimation Jutsu.

**Flying Raijin: **You are wrong. Kisame and Kakashi produce the water by transforming their own chakra and spewing it from their mouths. Tobirama can create water jutsu out of thin air. Not the same thing.

**Rangrids: **Thank you for your very unassuming and considerate review. As you might have noticed from my profile, I am Croatian, thus English isn't my mother tongue. I am also generally not very talented lingustically, even in Croatian. Concerning the pairings, It's either Naruto/Fu or Naruto/Hinata, but I will not put substantial focus on romance in this story.

**PLEASE READ THE AN AT THE END!**

* * *

"Hell no, Kakashi!"

"C'mon, Anko."

"Forget it. I'm not training that little super model-wannabe of yours."

Kakashi ran his hand through his spiky white hair and sighed in slight frustration "Anko, Naruto and Sasuke are getting individual training. I can't leave Sakura without a teacher and you know the issue with Sasuke. Please understand."

Anko sighed "Look, I'm not cut out for it. I of all people can't take the responsibility of taking care of some damn kid, it'd be a disaster. Not to mention that I have better things to do."

What in the world is the man thinking? There was no way she could be put in charge of some brat. It's not like she has the best experiences in student-master relationships. What's she gonna teach her? How to abandon her students in the middle of nowhere without any concern for their well-being.

However, being the highly intelligent man he was, Kakashi quickly understood her dilemma "You're not him."

Anko stiffened and glared at him, but Kakashi held firm and continued "You're not Orochimaru. You believe that because of your experiences you'll be just as bad a master he was. I belive it's exactly _because _of those experiences that you'll be the exact opposite, because you know how painful it was and you don't want it to happen to Sakura. It might not be as painful for her as it was for you, but me having to stop training her while her teammates get private tutors is still going to be a hard blow."

He took a step closer "Do _you of all people _want her to go through that?"

Anko's look gradually softened until she sighed and looked downwards. After a few moments she raised her head and spoke "Who is training the loudmouth?"

"Lord Jiraiya," Anko looked suprised, but his tone and uncertain look made it clear he wasn't finished. After a couple seconds, he relented "And Lord Second Hokage."

The snake woman gaped at the man. Of course, she had heard that the legendary ninja had returned via her former master's use of the Reanimation Jutsu, despicable as always. It just made her hate him more. Seeing the gutsy little blonde defeat the older Hyuga prodigy was impressive, hearing that he defeated the One-tails jinchuriki and, to an extent, Shukaku itself was mind-blowing, but to find out that the _freaking Second Hokage _had taken an interest in him was a whole new kind of crazy.

"Why?" she blurted out bluntly.

Again, the Sharingan wielder looked uncertain, but figured telling her wasn't too much of an issue. She was one of the best at keeping secrets, despite the impression she gave as an exuberant loudmouth. She _is _an infiltration, espionage and assasination specialist.

"He is Naruto's great grandfather."

_This day keeps getting better and better, doesn't it, _thought Anko

* * *

**The next day**

The Second Hokage and his great grandson were standing in the same training field from the day before, getting ready for their real first day of training. Naruto was eager for the training to begin, but patiently waited for Tobirama to finish writing a few seals, though he was losing it little by little.

After a few moments, which for Naruto seemed like few minutes, Tobirama was finished "Today we begin your training, Naruto. As you have already been informed, me and Jiraiya will be sharing the responisbility of making the best ninja we could. However, that will still require hard work and determination from your part so I don't want any slacking off."

Naruto nodded with determination visible on his face "Right! Where _is _Pervy Sage, anyway?"

The corners of Tobirama's mouth twitched a bit in restrained laughter. Kakashi had taken the liberty of informing him of the sannin's... habits. It had been somewhat dissapointing to hear such shameful, or shameless is just as appropriate, behaviour from a highly renowned ninja, but figured it wouldn't interfere with the kid's training. Naruto is obviously already aware of his godfather's perverted exploits.

"For just this week, I'll be training you. He 'll be of more assistance when we set out to retrieve Tsunade. We'll mostly work on your basic skills since you're still somewhat lacking in that department. Normally, this would take considerably longer than a week, but I have a training method that will suit you perfectly and will accelerate the speed at which you will learn everything taught to you." Tobirama said.

"You have been made aware that shadow clones transmit their experiences and memories back to the original," Naruto nodded "We will use that. You will create a certain amount of shadow clones and all of them will do the same exercise and after a while, you'll dispel them. All their experiences will come back to you and it will be like you did them yourself."

"For example, if you and a clone of yours practiced the same taijutsu kata for one hour, after you dispel the clone, it will be like you practiced it for two hours. Do you understand the implications of the training method now?" Tobirama finished.

Naruto eyes and mouth were wide in glee as he took it all in. Tobirama smirked. He wasn't afraid of the blond becoming lazy. If anything, it will inspire him to work harder than ever. He'll still warn him to make sure.

"Of course, the clones are not going to be doing all the work. You'll have to increase your physical skills like strength and speed yourself, since their physical condition is a reflection of your own, not the other way around. I don't want you becoming idle."

"No sweat, grandpa. I got no problem with working my butt off." his eyes turned a bit more sorrowful "Although working my butt off still didn't help much, I was still the loser." That is true. No matter how hard he trained, he still hadn't been able to catch up to most of his class.

"Hard work is meaningless without focus and direction. It is of little to no importance if you're not doing it properly. Nothing more than a wasted effort. That's why we will be training you in the most efficient way we can and utilise all the means at our disposal to make you strong." The Second Hokage informed him.

Naruto just stared at him in awe. No matter how many times he hears him say such things, it still amazes him. Stilll leaves him a little emotional. Hey, it's not easy when so few people do it. The only people he knew were the old man, grandpa Tobirama, and Iruka-sensei.

He wondered if Tobirama and Iruka would get along. His great grandfather had told him that it was up to him if he wanted to divulge his heritage to other people. He could already imagine him sputtering with his jaw dropped to the floor and his eyes like saucers. Reminds him of the times he used his Sexy Jutsu on him, but without the nosebleed. It didn't take him long to figure that he probably shouldn't show it to the Second Hokage.

Though Tobirama had also advised him that he should do it gradually and not all at once. The reactions of the people are too unpredictable, especially when in masses. Little by little seems the best option for now.

Naruto grinned "Yeah, let's do it."

Tobirama nodded "Very well. Let's begin. I want you to create 30 shadow clones for now." They both made the cross hand sign.

"**Shadow Clone Jutsu**"

Thirty Naruto clones and one Tobirama clone appeared "Now, except for the original, you'll all be going to the stream to practice a few academy taijutsu katas while water walking. My clone will be there with you to supervise." With that all the clones left and began doing their assigned task. Tobirama turned to Naruto "You'll engage me in taijutsu so I can gauge your skill and determine which style might suit you best. Bring it!"

Naruto complied with a grin and so it began.

* * *

Trudging along the village streets, Sakura could be seen with a box full of sweets. Originally, she bought them for just Sasuke, but in the end decided to share them with Naruto as well for his victory in the Chunin Exams and efforts in defeating Gaara, even though she believed it was Sasuke who did it.

Thinking back on that day brought a melancholic feeling to her heart. She couldn't help but be dissapointed in herself for her weaknesses. She was the only one in Team 7 not to make it to the finals and was soundly defeated by Gaara in mere seconds, while Shikamaru and her teammates did enviously well.

She had been extremely relieved when Shikamaru came back alive with Asuma-sensei. She had almost hugged the lazy boy, but it would have been far too awkward.

That still left the issue of her worth as a ninja. She knew she was a bit of a hypocrite with her constant criticism of others, especially Naruto, and really shouldn't have been the one to talk when she was the one looking at the backs of other people as she fell behind.

Sasuke wasn't the only reason she became a ninja, as she had something to prove to herself as well. She wanted to prove Ami and her cronies wrong. However, she understood now that her conduct wasn't the most becoming of a ninja, focusing too much on her hair and figure, going on unecessary and self-harming diets. Sakura should have been training, getting stronger instead of just thinking that being smart is going to get her out of all situations.

She had been woefully unprepared for the life as a ninja, the mission in Wave proved that. Though she often criticised Naruto for his idiocy and naivete, she had been just as naive really. She had believed that the life of a shinobi constituted of saving important people like princes and lords like some superhero or a knight in shining armor, not that she ever pictured herself wearing something like that.

How wrong she had been.

In her profession, death was a constant companion. It was a life of killing and fighting, of darkness with a scant sense of morals when dealing with your enemies. The death of your comrades is a common theme and she knows she hadn't done anyone proud with her reaction to Sasuke's supposed death. She hadn't been ready. She still probably isn't.

The problem is she wants to catch up to her teammates as quick as she can, but with Kakashi having to focus on Sasuke it wasn't that easy anymore. She could do some training on her own or go to the library to look for some jutsu or new training methods, but it wouldn't nearly have the effect she wanted it to have.

Though the adults haven't divulged it to the younger generation, Sakura was fully aware of the delicate situation with her Uchiha teammate and thus, didn't blame Kakashi-sensei for having to solo train him. Orochimaru had given him the curse mark and had said that Sasuke would seek him out for power. Being the studious girl she is, she knew a lot about the reasons of Orochimaru's defection.

He certainly wasn't the type to do things for others unless it benefited him. He wanted Sasuke, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that he wanted him for the Sharingan. If the jutsu that had revived the previous Hokage hadn't backfired on him...

She shuddered while thinking about it. The village would have taken much more damage, much more people would have died and the Third Hokage would probably be dead as well. Imagine fighting him with the Sharingan at his disposal.

Ninja are expected to be practical and loyal to their village above all else, and it would be practical not to let the legendary kekkei genkai fall into their enemy's hands and a loyal ninja would obviously do it for the safety of their village; so why does she feel that that was just a bonus? Why does she feel that Sasuke's safety and their potential future together would matter more to her than that? It's not like she would beg him to take her with him if he decided to leave the village. Right?

She sighed in dismay and frustration. It goes to show just how unworthy a shinobi she was, being indecisive in this matter when the answer was clear to all other Hidden Leaf shinobi. She wanted to change that. She wanted to become strong and worthy of walking by the side of her teammates.

And she will.

Sakura was brought out of her musings when she saw the object of her affections heading her way and sprinted up to him with a smile plastered on her face.

"Hey Sasuke."

He nodded to her "Sakura."

She held out the box full of sweets "I got this for you a-and for Naruto as well. I wanted to say thank you for saving me from Gaara."

Sasuke brows furrowed just a bit before speaking "I don't really have much of a sweet tooth," Sakura's face dropped a little "But thanks anyway. Besides, I wasn't the one who rescued you. It was Naruto."

Her mind went momentarily blank. Naruto. As in, the hyperactive, annoying, somewhat blumbering Blonde teammate of hers. Surely that wasn't true, but Sasuke rarely ever lied and it was especially doubtful that he would be lying about giving the credit of a great victory to someone else.

"You're just being modest like usual." she said, even though modest wasn't a word she'd use to describe him. She wasn't like before, she knows now that the young Uchiha wasn't perfect and she wouldn't let fantasies blind her judgement. Been there, done that.

"I am serious. He went all out on Gaara and took him down, though he wasn't in much better shape either." Sasuke's eyes darkened a little. It was frustrating to know that his goofy teammate was progressing so fast. It made him feel like he was being left behind, like he'd never catch up to him.

Like he'd never have the power to kill his brother.

He just couldn't see Naruto ever beating Itachi, despite his incredible growth, and if Sasuke couldn't beat the blond, how was he ever going to defeat Itachi.

Both of them were brought out of their musings when a cloud of smoke appeared close to them. It quickly cleared, revealing Kakashi and the second exam proctor. The two younger ninja stared at them in confusion as Anko slowly walked over to Sakura with a scrutinizing look. She leaned her upper body forward and looked at the young kunoichi in her entirety and, after several seconds, straightened up again.

"Skinny, not a lot of muscle, probably poor stamina and speed, needs to eat and exercise more. I wasn't kidding when I said she was a little super model-wannabe." Anko said seriously with a bit of disgust in her voice.

Sakura quickly understood the she was talking about her and scowled with a blush on her face. Going on diets wasn't exactly easy, it was painful as hell and besides, she _has _been eating more lately. It didn't take long to figure out that she was never going to be able to endure Kakashi's training regimen while starving herself.

"Hey, I'm not a super model-wannabe!"

Anko grinned feraly "Oh yeah? Look at you. I bet you wouldn't last against an academy student for 5 minutes before falling on your knees, coughing up your lungs. The quality of kunoichi in this village has seriously fallen in these recent years. It's embarrasing." she said the last part with a grimace and a small scowl.

The pink haired shinobi kept scowling but it was softened by a tinge of shame that appeared. She knew the proctor was right for the most part, but she was trying to change that. Anko's insults brought memories of what happened in the Forest of Death, when she had first realized how much her prowess left something to be desired. She remembered how easily that sound kunoichi got to her with her insults about her hair and lack of skill.

But just like before when she scrounged up the determination to prove Kin Tsuchi wrong, she was going to do it again to prove Anko Mitarashi wrong.

"I won't be left behind. I will fight for my teammates and for my village and I'm not going to let you bring me down. I'm gonna be one of the best kunoichi in this village, even if I have to train from dusk to dawn to prove all of you wrong." she said with unbreakable firmness and strength. Later she was going to reflect how much she sounded like Naruto.

Both Kakashi and Sasuke looked at her in suprise as well as newfound respect. Kakashi eye-smiled while Sasuke smirked a bit.

Anko just kept grinning, though a tinge of respect could be seen in her eyes too "You wanna bet?"

Sakura nodded determinately.

The snake woman clapped her hands "All right. Meet me at the Forest of Death tomorrow at eight A.M. sharp. I you don't, I'll throw you to the giant, man-eating tigers that live there."

Though the comment about the giant tigers scared her a little, she was more confused than anything "What?"

"You heard me. I'm gonna be your new sensei."

Kakashi stepped forward "Yes. Frankly, each genin of Team 7 will receive private tutoring due to several circumstances which I am not going to disclose to you. Sasuke will continue training with me while Naruto will have his own tutors. Now Sakura, Anko here is the best kunoichi of the Hidden Leaf Village and I want you to always listen to her. No ne has received the honor of being trained by her so I want you to respect that and not go back on your word."

Sakura straightened up and nodded vigorously, which Anko smirked at.

The older woman put her arm around the younger woman's shoulders "Yeah, you and I are going to have a lot of fun playing together. Fair warning, the games I like to play are NOT for the faint of heart, so you better get your shit together and prepare for the closest thing to hell on Earth." she said with a sadistic chuckle, but with just as much sobriety.

The pink haired girl shook a little but stood rigidly for the most part "Yes, Anko-sensei!"

The snake woman's grin widened a little "Good."

* * *

After 2 hours of sparring, Naruto was panting with his hands on his knees, but he had a big smile on his face "How was that?"

Tobirama's face was neutral as he spoke "The edges need to be smoothed out a little, but not too shabby overall."

In reality, it was a little more than 'not too shabby'. Like Kakashi said, in the beginning Naruto was a bit sloppy, but not as much as Tobirama expected, proving that Kakashi did a good job. He used light hits to correct his form and point out the weak spots.

However, not long after the start, as he gradually increased the speed of their movement and they started relying more on instinct and muscle memory, the blonde adapted far better than he expected. Both his offense and defense increased almost dramatically and he nearly suprised him with some of the maneuvers he performed. He remembered when Naruto had jumped over one of his attacks, but remained close and level with the Second Hokage and Tobirama attempted to point out his mistake with a spinning kick. He suprised him when he put his hand on his leg, not to stop him but to use the force of the kick to spin himself, gain momentum and lash out with his own kick at Tobirama's head.

He, of course, blocked the kick but Naruto immediately put his other foot on the arm that blocked the attack and pushed himself off in a backflip a short distance while simultaneously throwing some shuriken at him and charging as soon as he landed on the ground. The entire thing took just 3, maybe 4 seconds.

It continued like that, Naruto performing suprisingly good maneuvers, dodging some attacks that Tobirama expected to land, but not all, and adapting to the increasing tempo well. Kakashi was right that, while at the moment, he probably couldn't beat a high-genin level Hyuga or a regular chunin, taijutsu is undoubtedly going to be one of Naruto's strong points, and a lot of focus will be put on that.

Nevertheless, the problem is still there.

"While your skill in taijutsu gradually increased as we fought, more than expected, there is still the problem of how long it takes you to enter that state. The enemy might not give you the time to acquire the necessary momentum, thus, you must learn to relese close to your full potentiial at the very beginning." the undead kage said.

Naruto pouted a bit but accepted his great grandfather's criticism.

"Concerning your fighting style, that is not as easy. Frankly, some parts of your style exhibit potential for one taijutsu style, while some other parts for another and so on. You seem to rely a lot on speed, agility, performing complex maneuvers and acrobatics at close quarters and you have a knack for making up unorthodox but effective moves on the fly. You also have considerable skill in using your opponents own strength against them or to benefit your own attacks and you by no means lack power behind your blows." Naruto beamed at the praise "However, you sometimes put too much force in your attacks and your skill in recovering from your failed ones is a bit lacking. We'll need to work on that."

This time the blonde straightened up and nodded with firm resolve "Yes, grandpa-sensei."

Tobirama loves him, but he swears he's going to get a permanent eye twitch with this kid.

"Your style is in many ways similar to the Loopy Fist." Tobirama said.

"Eh, what?" Naruto had a confused grimace on his face. Surely his great grandfather must be joking. Is he implying that he moves like a drunk?

"Even though you're not actually moving like a drunk, there are similarities; the acrobatic moves, the fluid and swift transitions from one technique to another, the significant degree of balance and coordination in your style, the way you dodge and bring your opponents into uncomfortable positions and the sheer unpredictability." he elaborated.

"The speed and agility are characteristics of the Southern Leopard Fist, not to mention powerful elbow and knee strikes, even though you prefer punches and kicks. However, you don't employ the swift low kicks the style is known for, though it can be added through training. Your kicks, footwork and wide stances are more reminiscent of the Tiger Fist and your use of punches to the Dragon Fist."

Tobirama 'hmmd' in thought as he tried to figure it out. Even though having techniques from multiple styles is not ucommon at all (his own style is a combination of the Leopard and Dragon fist, with a smaller amount of Tiger in it), one still needs to have a taijutsu style that encompasses the combatant's fighting capabilities, to have a center to rely on in order to balance everything out and create focus. The only silver lining is that their styles posses numerous resemblences, but there are many differences that simply can't be overlooked.

Naruto's taijutsu M.O. has characteristics of both the Northern and Southern Chinese martial arts; now he only needs to find even ground.

Northern _and _Southern.

Northern _and _Southern.

Northern _and-_

Tobirama's eyes widen in clarification and understanding. _Of course, _Tobirama thought, _it's so obvious._ He looks down at his student and heir with a small, satisfied smile.

"I belive I've found the solution. The style you'll be focusing on will be the Choy Li Fut." he said in triumph.

Naruto's eyes sparkled in eager interest "What kind of fighting style is it? Tell me."

"Patience, Naruto. This particular type incorporates the attributes of both the Northern and Southern Chinese martial arts. The powerful, direct, upper body techniques and the speed from the South, and the agility, circular and angular movement, footwork and unpredictable body twisting from the North. It's one of the best styles for fighting multiple opponents and is good for incorporating various weapons. It employs long and short range punches and kicks, grapples, sweeps and so on. It is very possibly the most diverse and versatile taijutsu style in the world."

"This of course also means that it's difficult to learn in comparison to most other styles. It is because of this that even among taijutsu specialists the Choy Li Fut is uncommonly used." Tobirama concluded.

Naruto jumped into the air in excitment as if he hadn't been sparring for the last couple of hours "Awesome! I'm gonna master the Choy Li Fut, believe it!"

The Second Hokage nodded, though he also filed in his brain that he should teach Naruto to be calmer and better at keeping his emotions in check, "As I've said, there is a reason that so few people use this style. You _must _dedicate yourself to learning the Choy Li Fut." he said sternly. Naruto just nodded vigorously.

"Alright, dispell your remaining shadow clones."

As they dispelled, his brain was registering all the memories and experiences and Naruto could _feel _the small increase in his chakra control. He was giddy with the knowledge of what he could accomplish with the incredible jutsu created by the man standing in front of him.

"You will do some academy taijutsu katas yourself while water walking for a short while so your own body and mind can fully register and get used to the additional experience." Tobirama informed the blond.

After doing it and noticing the ease at which he performed it, he again stood in front of the reanimated kage.

"You will now create 50 shadow clones that will begin doing the first stage in controling the Water style. After one hour, ten of those clones will be dispelled and after the next hour another ten and so one and so forth. This method will increase the amount of experince you ultimately receive since the existing clones also receive the memories from the dispelled ones. That way the amount of experience will systematically pile up as the clones dispell themselves while other clones are still practicing."

Naruto was confused a bit as he tried to process what Tobirama said, eventually understaning and creating the 50 shadow clones that were instructed by a few of Tobirama's own shadow clones to soak a leaf by properly running their Water style chakra through it.

The Secind Hokage held up the seals that he had written earlier that morning "While they are doing their assigned task, you'll be perorming physical exercises while wearing these weight seals. One will be put on each limb and the last will be put on your torso. They will evenly distribute the added weight throughout the entire part of that body. In order to activate them you must simply run chakra through them."

Naruto did as instructed and he immediately felt heavier and his body slumped a little. Tobirama smirked slightly at Naruto's grimace.

"They also function based on your intent, so you can raise the level by running your chakra through them while thinking, for example, 'level 2' or 'level 3'. You will do that each time you feel the seals aren't creating enough weight."

"No sweat. I'll increase the level in no time, just you watch." Naruto said as he attempted to straighten himself out.

Tobirama's smirk got a slight bit bigger "Oh, I'll be watching, brat, and I'll make sure to make as hard for you as possible each time it gets easier."

Naruto gulped but resigned himself to his fate.

* * *

It's not an _overtly _important an, but I do feel I should add this anyway. I'm just gonna add some story recommendations, as well as inform you what my favorite Naruto fic of all time is. These are stories that are still in-progress and I belive deserve more recognition. I will not add the descriptions of the story, read it yourselves, ya lazy bums!

My all-time favorite Naruto fic:

**The Uzumaki Tales: Return of the Whirlpool by jbriz**

Other story recommendations:

**Naruto: The Storm Sage by LonelyDreamer00**

**Another Solution by DryBonesKing**

**Unto The Breach by BackslashEcho**

**What He Wants To Protect by Bleis29**

**A Dream Hastened, Misstep in the Right Direction, Towards the Dawn and The Hyuga's Hound all by Solvdrage (For writers, you should also check out his two Naruto challenges)**

**The Wind Rises and Seeing Red by RyoshiMorino**


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry about the delay with this chapter. Had a lot of stuff to do and worry about. Anyways, let's get on with the chapter, but review answers first:

**InfernoOfChaos: **Yes, it's Naruto/Fu and I've seen a bit of the filler arc. However, Fu will not be exatcly like in the anime. I will do my own interpretation of the character.

**hornet07: **In the manga, the ninja world is merely a part of a big continent and it will be in my story as well and in my story China exists as well, maybe geographically different, but it is there nevertheless.

**Cair: **Thank you for the correction. I appreciate it and I'll correct the mistake.

So without further ado, I give you Chapter 5. I don't own Naruto.

* * *

It was finally the day for Jiraya, Tobirama and Naruto to set out and search for Tsunade. As the morning Sun shone down upon them, the Second Hokage thought of the previous week. It was most certainly productive, more than he expected even.

Mostly he concentrated on chakra control and taijutsu, as planned. Thanks to the shadow clone method, Naruto had completed the first step of Water manipulation training by late morning the day after he began, after which Tobirama taught him 'Water style: Liquid Bullet'. He had learned the jutsu to an adequate level by the end of the day.

The day after that he began the first step in Wind manipulation training which was, again, completed by morining the next day, after which he was taught 'Wind style: Great Breakthrough'. He had unsuprisingly (to Tobirama at least) learned the jutsu in less than two hours. When the jinchuriki had asked him about that, he had explained that two things are necessary for the creation of a jutsu: chakra capacity and chakra control.

Since Naruto already had a chakra capacity that surpassed that of everybody in the Hidden Leaf Village except for Jiraiya and Tobirama himself, that part was already covered, which also explained the below average chakra control he had. Naruto understood that chakra control is merely moulding and bending one's chakra in order to achieve a wanted result.

Because of that, the Second Hokage pointed out that, apart from his Wind affinity being stronger than his Water affnity, the Water manipulation exercise that he completed also attributed somewhat to his success in learning the Wind style jutsu quicker, since nature manipulation is also just another form of bending and moulding one's chakra.

In other words, any method of increasing one's chakra control for only a specific technique or field will increase one's entire chakra control overall, even if it's only marginal for the unintended technique or field. Simply practicing jutsu over and over again will have the same results. That explains why more experienced ninja have good chakra control, despite most of them having stopped doing exercises made solely for the development of one's chakra moulding skills.

Tobirama called it getting familiar with one's own chakra.

The one thing that still bothered Naruto was that it still took him four weeks to learn the Summoning jutsu after having completed both the Tree Walking and the Water Walking exercise. It didn't take long for Tobirama to figure it out. He reminded the blond that one's chakra capacity can be raised through repetition of a technique or generally increasing one's own endurance.

He reasoned that his constant use of the Shadow Clone Jutsu combined with all the accumulated experience from them, even if he hadn't been aware of it, had made his chakra capacity increase unproportonally in comparison to his control. That being his favorite jutsu, Naruto had nearly thrown a fit believing he will be stuck with 'crappy' chakra control for the rest of his life.

Thankfully, his great grandfather had explained to him that, apart from chakra control not always being relative to chakra capacity (Hashirama was proof of that), as he expands his jutsu repertoire, through constant practice and more experience he will be able to increase and keep, at the least, a solid level of chakra control while simoultaneously boosting his capacity. Not to mention that he could always set aside a number of clones to do chakra control exercises when training.

One of the main objectives of the training was to get his chakra control up to par so there wouldn't be such life-threatening mistakes in the future, as well as to meet requirements for the jutsu Jiraiya wants to teach Naruto.

While one set of clones was training in nature manipulation, another set began the Kunai Hovering exercise. The blond needed to make a kunai hover over his hand for 5 minutes straight using his chakra. Considering that the exercise was done usually by those who wanted to become genjutsu specialists and Naruto's reserves practically demanded he do it, the Second Hokage figured it would take him around a month to complete it, even with the shadow clones.

While the clones did that, the original went through rigorous physical training. The first thing they would do in the morning were strength, endurance and speed in close quarters exercises with weight seals on his body. Even though he hadn't trained in that field as much as some of the others, the Uzumaki stamina, lifeforce and healing that were increased by the Nine-tails chakra meant that his muscles could take more strain than most while not having to worry about any unhealthy side-effects that a more... normal human being would experience and Tobirama took full advantage of that.

After that he would rest for several minutes, which was usually enough, and Naruto would create a single clone. Tobirama would put a seal on that clone, designed to somewhat augment the density of the clone's chakra, making it capable of sustaining a little more damage than normal before dispelling. Then the clone would create a few shadow clones that would spar against Tobirama's own, while the originals went against each other.

While the originals and a couple of their shadow clones would do actual sparring, Tobirama's other shadow clones would focus more on training certain aspects such as adding new moves, not over extending his blows, quickly changing positions, etc. Sometimes Tobirama would fight alongside one of his shadow clones against the original Naruto or the originals would fight while shadow clones of Tobirama would fire weak versions of the Liquid Bullet at the jinchuriki, all in order to increase his awareness and reflexes.

In the afternoon, the Second Hokage and his clones, who would fire weak water bullets, would pursue Naruto through the woods while he was still wearing the weight seals. He had to simoultaneously dodge the bullets, the trees, the occasional direct clone attack and try to use the enviroment to his advantage. It helped a lot in building his long distance speed, agility and reaction time.

After that Naruto would do a more conventional exercise, running back and forth from one point to another at maximum speed. While running at the maximum, the hardest direction to change to is a 180 and this exercise would go a long way in building up speed and the ability to quickly change directions while mainting momentum with minimal waste of speed and energy.

In the late afternoon, after resting for about 45 minutes and eating a little, he would dispell the clones and do the chakra control exercises himself. After that, he would either learn a new jutsu or do the physical workouts again.

Tobirama had explained to Naruto that muscle growth is merely the muscles adapting to the strain they've been put through; a sort of defense mechanism. It meant that the growth didn't happen during the workout, but when the muscles were healing. The point was that it was far more effective to do the workouts again after having completely healed than doing them while still sore.

Due to his accelerated healing and adaptable body and chakra, Naruto has a very uncommon advantage in regards to his physical development. Not only can his body handle more strain, but he will also recover from it quicker, thus he is able to workout a lot more than most others.

Combine that with his shadow clones and great latent talent and instincts and you will get possibly one of the greatest taijutsu potentials ever.

Apart from all that, he additionally taught the young shinobi the 'Water style: Water Wall' and 'Wind style: Air Bullet'. It took him notably less time to learn them than the previous jutsu.

All in all, Tobirama was very satisfied with the current results. In just a week, Naruto's taijutsu increased while not drastically, not marginally either. The same went for his physical capabilities, not to mention the significant boost in his chakra control.

He was brought back to reality when he noticed Hiruzen approaching, undoubtedly coming to bid them goodbye and good luck on their mission.

"I see you're all here. I wish you all good luck on finding my wayward student and potential Fifth Hokage." the old man said with a smile.

Naruto raised a thumbs up "Don't sweat it, old man. We'll get this Tsunade lady back. You just keep the seat warm until we do."

Hiruzen nodded "I'm counting on you three."

"I'm quite certain we'll manage. This is her home after all and she's family." Tobirama said assuredly, but narrowed his eyes a bit in suspicion and confusion. While the Third Hokage said that there were some issues concerning his grandniece that he was not yet aware of, he couldn't help but note that his ex-student made it out to be a lot harder than it sounded.

As if responding to Tobirama's thoughts, Hiruzen's eyes gained a noticeable sad glint "And I'm quite certain that you'll need more than that to convince her."

When his old mentor and Naruto stared at him in curiosity, Hiruzen just waved his hand "All will reveal itself in due time." he said while sending a meaningful glance to Jiraiya.

The Toad Sage nodded and turned towards the road "Come on. We've all said our goodbyes, now let's get moving. I've got a few leads on her possible whereabouts."

His two companions nodded, but before they could sojourn, Tobirama put his hands into the ram sign and said "Transform!"

With a puff of smoke, in his place stood a man with identical facial features but with black hair and eyes, a standard Hidden Leaf uniform and without the signature red lines on his face.

Naruto stared at him with confusion but eventually figured that it wouldn't be the best idea for people to see a well-known man who reportedly died almost 50 years ago just casually walking around, so he just nodded his head.

The Second Hokage nodded back and was internally happy that Naruto was starting to make deductions on his own. While his tactics could be brilliant and one of a kind, his analitycal skills are still rather lacking and he doesn't always remember to enter that state of mind when both in _and_ outside battle situations. He figured he would have to run his great grandson through many a lesson on proper shinobi conduct and mindset in the near future.

With the goodbyes out of the way they finally headed out in search of their possible future Hokage.

* * *

After travelling for several hours, they decided to take a break in a clearing near a small temple. As the two non-reanimations were eating lunch, the reanimated one spoke "Naruto, for the duration of this trip, concerning your taijutsu and chakra control, you will only do exercises that will keep them steady. Their development will have to wait until we finish this trip."

Naruto looked a bit confused but nodded "Okay, grandpa Tobirama. So what _will_ I be doing now?"

"I will be training your skill in making hand signs now. Apart from making the shadow clones to continue the Kunai Hovering exercise, I want you to make ten additional ones and split them into two groups. Each group will do a sequence of hand signs given by a shadow clone of mine. You know the names of each hand sign, don't you?" Tobirama said.

The blond nodded but looked offended "Come on! I know I'm not the most _scholarly _type, but give me some credit." Seriously! These people thought he was a complete dunce. He knew he wasn't the sharpest kunai in the pouch, but he wasn't some mental case either. At the least he is learning from the mistakes he makes... for the most part.

"Just checking, now do it."

With puffs of smoke, the shadow clones came to existence and began doing their designated task.

"Now I want you to create two more shadow clones." Tobirama said.

Naruto did as ordered and waited for further instructions. Tobirama sat in front of them and signaled them to do the same "I will be explaining the theory behind genjutsu to you three. How to recognize it, cast it, dispell it and such." He stopped when he heard groanes and narrowed his eyes at them. "Do you have something to add, Naruto?" he asked with a noticeably impatient tone in it.

All three of them gulped before the original spoke up "Grandpa, I'm really not good at this stuff. I mean, uh, I always sucked at these academics and they were always so boring. I fell asleep more times than I could count and the only reason Iruka-sensei didn't notice as much was because most of the time he had his nose in one of those books he read from."

"That's why I told you to create these shadow clones. After they dispell, it will be like you listened to the same lecture three times."

"I know, but do we really have to do this? I'm better at doing stuff."

"A ninja endures is what my brother use to say, Naruto. He or she endures struggles and hardships and grows better and stronger from it. One of those is the struggle with boredom. There will be tasks that you will find boring and tedious in our line of duty and you'll have to make through it _without_ complaints. From such tasks you will learn the value of patience. Are you a ninja or not?" The Second Hokage said seriously.

The clones nodded determinately "Yes, sir." they said in tandem.

"Then stop whining and pay attention. As a possible Hokage candidate this is especially important for you. Politics is a fickle and tedious thing and it requires patience and careful handling. You don't want to offend some short-tempred but important figure because you couldn't keep your annoyance in check. You need to learn to keep your dissatisfaction to yourself in certain situations. Understood?" he said firmly.

The blondes nodded quickly and Tobirama internally smirked at his ability to scare the crap out of his students. Yep, he still got it.

Jiraiya had no such reservations and outwardly chuckled "Man, you sure know how to keep your students in check, Lord Second."

This time he did smirk a bit "You'll both learn I'm not the type to mince words or sugarcoat things. In any case, we digress. Let's continue with our lesson, Naruto. Genjutsu, as you know, is the art of illusions. Unlike taijutsu and most ninjutsu, which attack the body, genjutsu attacks the victim's mind by gaining control of the chakra flow in their brain, thus disrupting their senses. Depending on the intention, it can be used to cause pain, since the brain is made to belive that the body is in pain, but there are plenty of other uses for this oftenly underestimated art. One of those is..."

The lecture lasted a little over fifteen minutes and the blond and his clones payed better attention than expected. Granted, Tobirama learned long ago that not only must the student adapt to his master's training, a master must understand his student as well. No people are the same, therefore no people learn equally well through the same methods. The point being that he couldn't teach Naruto with all the same methods he taught Hiruzen, Koharu and Homura.

He learned to use less of those 'bigger words' when with Naruto, but make the words and sentences complicated enough for him to learn new words and how to phrase his own sentences less crudely. He also learned that Naruto will be less likely to understand pure theory for the time being, thus he threw in various examples or real life experiences into the lecture. They even asked a few questions, like 'what kind of people are good at genjutsu?'. He was especially thanful for that one.

He had explained that while good chakra control was neccesary, many people exaggerated what level of control was required. Jiraiya added his own two cents when he said that many shinobi thought that to be good at genjutsu one must have the chakra control fairly close to that of a skilled medical ninja, which was of course false. The Toad Sage had said that the only reason he wasn't particularly good at genjutsu was because he didn't put a lot of focus on it, even though he doubted that he would have ever become a real genjutsu specialist if he did.

"That's it for now. Dispell the clones." Tobirama ordered. After doing it, Naruto felt the clones memories of the speech enter his mind and he knew he was far less likely to forget the lesson.

Something was tingling in the back of Naruto's mind, something he remembered he wanted to ask his great grandfather, but the announcment of the genjutsu lesson made him forget. As he saw some of his shadow clones he created during said lesson practice some taijutsu katas, he remembered "Grandpa, when am I gonna start learning the Choy Li Fut?"

"When we complete this mission. Jiraiya told me he wants to teach you something. I don't know what as the only thing he said was that it would require good chakra control." Tobirama said while looking at the large man.

"Yes, we might as well get started. Now observe." he said as he held his right hand out. They both saw chakra gathering at the palm of his hand, swirling in circular patterns. After a few seconds, the chakra started swirling even stronger, but it stabilised itself into a ball of pure energy. The jinchuriki looked at it with awe, his mind going a thousand miles an hour at the prospect of learning this jutsu. Even the highly experienced, undead kage's eyes widened a little.

"This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Rasengan. An A-rank jutsu created by the Fourth Hokage and the very pinnacle of shape manipulation." with that he slammed the spiralling sphere into a tree and Naruto and Tobirama watched as it easily pushed through the thick bark, eventually dissipating, leaving behind a clean, spherical indentation.

"Of course, that was merely a weakened version. A regular one could easily make a small crater on the ground with cracks around it and a stronger one... _boom_." he said with a hand gesture signifying an explosion, as well as a grin on his face.

Naruto just looked even more awed, while Tobirama's look turned more contemplative. It was undoubtedly a very impressive jutsu and the title of 'the very pinnacle of shape manipulation' was well earned, but the the manner in which the chakra in the Rasengan was moulded seemed quite farmiliar.

And suddenly it clicked.

"That was quite impressive, but if I had to take a guess, I'd say the concept of that jutsu came from the Tailed Beast Ball." The Second Hokage said.

Jiraiya looked suprised for a second before nodding with a more serious expression "That is correct. During the previous war, he fought against multiple jinchuriki, amongst which a couple of them partially turned into the beast themselves. Some of those crazy fucks even lost control of themselves. Thankfully, they were always accompanied with the jinchuriki containment units and so.."

Naruto got in between while waving his hands "Wait, wait! What is this Tailed Beast Ball and what the hell does it have to do with jinchuriki?"

The two older ninja looked at each other before Tobirama nodded and turned towards the young shinobi. Figuring it could only be helpful for him, he elaborated "The Tailed Beast Ball is the ultimate attack a tailed beast has. It consists of creating an energy bomb that is composed of 80% positive and 20% negative chakra. The result is a technique capable of destroying an entire mountain range if pumped with enough power."

Naruto gulped with wide eyes at the thought of such destruction, such a feat being almost incomprehensible for his inexperienced mind, not to mention having one of the creatures capable of it inside his stomach. Something like that would give _a__ lot _more than just indigestion.

He was brought back to reality when he noticed a spherical object heading towards his head. He quickly raised his hand and caught it and almost immediately recognised it as a red water balloon. Thinking that Jiraiya was trying to prank him, his ire grew and he glared at the sannin.

"What was that about? You didn't have to hit me with a water balloon to get my attention, you know!" he yelled. Tobirama looked somewhat irritated as well.

With a chuckle he answered "That was not the intention, squirt. The water balloon is neccesary for the first step in learning the Rasengan. There are three of them in total, created in order to make it easier to learn the jutsu. The first step is about rotation. Observe closely."

Naruto looked somewhat disinterested, but Tobirama quickly admonished him "Naruto, pay close attention as he shows the first step." The kid had the decency to look a little sheepish before he looked at the water balloon in Jiraiya's hand more closely.

Protrusions started appearing all over the ball in spinning motions before it broke, spilling the water inside onto Jiraiya's hand. It didn't seem particularly hard in Naruto's eyes. Extending the arm with the balloon in hand, he tried to burst it. Slowly, but surely the water started spinning, gradually increasing speed, but unfortunately not breaking.

It went on for a minute like that before frustration became visible on his face. Naruto eventually groaned loudly and glared at the object of his disgruntlement "I don't get it. What am I doing wrong?"

Jiraiya laughed loudly "Not as easy as you thought, ha brat! It _did _take Minato three years to create that jutsu, after all."

Naruto's eyes bulged in horror. Three goddamn years! "W-What?! I can't spend that much time learning one jutsu, even if it _is_ awesome! I could learn dozens of A-rank jutsu in the span of three years!"

The Toad Sage, instead of prolonging the fun, decided to take pity on him "Naruto, I said it took three years to _create _the Rasengan and creating a jutsu is a lot harder than learning it after it was conceived. It's more difficult to create the _concept_ and all the elements and components of something, making sure that apart from those elements being functional on their own, they must be able to be combined with the other elements to gain the proper result, than to erect that something after all the schematics have been written."

The Second Hokage nodded "That is true. You will probably learn the Rasengan in far less time than it took to be conceived for the first time. The fact is we cannot do the 8:2 ratio of black and white chakra, thus, my grandson had to create a whole new concept for his jutsu. In other words, he basically started from scratch."

Naruto, thankfully, understood the explanations and, before going back to the exercise, turned towards Jiraiya "Should I use the shadow clones?"

Jiraiya shook his head "Sorry, kid. I only have a few water balloons at the moment and if you and your clones popped them all in a hissy fit because you couldn't get it down," "Hey!" the blonde jinchuriki yelled indignantly "you'd have to wait til we get to a place where I can buy some more."

Naruto huffed but nodded and began the first step again with the sound of his shadow clones training in the background.

* * *

The group of three left the clearing after half an hour and continued on their journey after dispelling all the clones. Naruto continued with the first step in learning the Rasengan but so far hasn't had much luck with it.

The entrance to a small town was visible and they would reach it in about two minutes, but the blonde barey paid attention to that. How could he when that latex mockery of a training exercise was _mocking him_, swirling the water inside as if teasing him _'You can't pop me! You can't pop me!'_?

He didn't understand. He was spinning the water in the direction that he felt was right but it didn't do a damn thing. He remembered when Jiraiya did it, how the water looked like it was boiling inside the balloon. He doubted Pervy Sage actually boiled the water as there was no steam when the balloon popped and the Rasengan didn't look like it had anything fire related in it.

So how did he do it?

He looked at the balloon as he kept on spinning the water. In all honesty, Pervy Sage's looked like the water was spinned in multiple directions, but that's crazy and... his eyes widened in realization.

How could he be so s_tupid_? Of course that was it. The latex ball wouldn't pop otherwise.

Though that still left the question of how to do it. All day he swirled the water in a way that felt right to him and it felt that if he swirled his chakra in a different direction he would hit something akin to a his eyes widened in realization. The point was to spin it in many directions instead of one so maybe, just maybe...

He extended his arm and concentrated in spinning his chakra in the other direction. As his chakra hit that roadblock he felt it go wild, but not exactly out of his control. More importantly, the water spun in many directions as seen on the surface of the balloon. It wasn't as intense as Jiraiya had done it, but it was visible. He smiled widely.

Unnoticed to him, Jiraiya and Tobirama saw what he did and they both had small smiles on their face.

Again, Naruto repeated the action and his chakra went wild again, but this time he attempted to gain more control. Thank Kami for grandpa Tobirama's chakra control exercises. He willed the chakra to keep spinning wildly and it visibly and gradually grew in strength until..

***pop*** ***splash***

The balloon was burst open by the water inside and Naruto grinned bright and wide.

"Congratulations, squirt. You even did faster than I expected." the white-haired sannin said with a thumbs up. Tobirama nodded and lightly patted Naruto's head with a small smile. Naruto blushed a bit but kept grinning.

"Okay, I'm finished with the first step. What's next?" Naruto said.

"We'll spend the night in this town and continue our journey tomorrow. That's when you'll do the next step. For now, you can practise making hand signs." Tobirama informed him.

"Meanwhile I'll go ask a few people if they've seen Tsunade somewhere around here." Jiraiya added.

"No need. I can sense her chakra. She isn't here, but she is less than a day's walk from here in that direction." Tobirama said with his finger pointing in the direction where Tsunade's chakra sinature is.

Jiraiya sighed in relief and nodded gratefuly "Based on the direction and distance, I'd say she's in Tanzaku Town. Should've known." he murmured the last part.

The Second Hokage raised an eyebrow "How come?"

The Toad Sage sighed with a little exasperation "She absolutely adores gambling, more than anyone else you'll meet. She's practically addicted and Tanzaku Town has added some casinos in the last few decades. It's the closest thing to paradise for people like her."

Instead of looking dissapointed or annoyed, as his two travelling companions expected, Tobirama actually chuckled a bit "Just like Hashirama. That moron spoiled her rotten, though I wasn't particularly better on some occasions, and she had already gained his prosperity for gambling at the age of _four._"

"F-F-Four?!" Naruto asked in disbelief and Jiraiya was in a similar state. When he had first met her at the age of 6, she _did_ show some gambling habits, but in all honesty, they hadn't been that big yet.

Tobirama nodded "Yes." his eyes narrowed in a light, but still frightening glare and trained on Naruto "Though I can expect from you not to pick up such bad habits, right?"

The blond gulped and nodded vigorously. His great grandfather nodded and continued walking with Jiraiya not far behind, snickering. Naruto eventually snapped out of his daze and ran after them.

* * *

Naruto and Tobirama were in the room they rented, while Jiraiya was with some busty, black-haired woman who winked at him and... well, the readers don't need the author to explain what went on after that.

The jinchuriki was practising hand signs with Tobirama, who told him what sequences to repeat. Though Naruto was grumbling a little, he did notice his undead relative had a strange look on his face, almost as if he was expecting something serious to happen. Naruto just shrugged internally, the man was one of those serious types and he probably just took his training a little more seriously than neccesary.

"Inu, tora, i, saru, uma, tatsu, mi, tori, ne." Tobirama said.

Naruto did the hand signs as quickly and correctly as he could. After finishing, his great grandfather nodded and Naruto was happy with his succees. When he expected Tobirama to tell a new sequence, he instead saw him with his eyes closed, looking like he was concetrating. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and the blonde saw a focused and hardened look in them, one of a seasoned war veteran.

"Sensei, what's going on?" Naruto asked, he was honestly a little scared.

"Naruto, prepare yourself." he said and turned to look at the door.

He was confused but followed the order nonetheless, putting on his sandals and his right hand into his pouch, grabbing a kunai but still keeping his hand inside it. He noticed Tobirama looking at the entrance of their room and he steeled himself; with his great grandfather being this serious, it obviously wasn't Jiraiya.

After a moment, someone knocked on their door. Tobirama slowly went towards it and he grabbed the doorknob. He opened it and stared into a pair of red eyes with three black tomoes in circular pattern arouns his pupil.

"Itachi Uchiha, I presume?" Tobirama said.

Itachi didn't say anything at first but spoke after a few moments "I don't know who you are, but we need your roommate, Naruto Uzumaki, to come with us." he said in monotone. The man's features were somewhat familiar, but Itachi didn't recognise this Hidden Leaf jonin, which was strange.

Tobirama narrowed his eyes a bit "I cannot allow you to do that."

"He he he. I'm impressed." From behind Itachi came a large and tall man with a huge sword wrapped in bandages "I can't smell even a bit of fear in him, despite our presence. Looks like the Hidden Leaf has some well trained ninja after all." the man said with a sadistic grin which wasn't visible behind the high collar of his cloak.

Tobirama looked at him and he had to admit that the shark-like man had truly impressive reserves of chakra, even a little bigger than his own, which is quite a feat in on itself. He also noticed their garbs, black cloacks with red clouds. They were both appereantly a part of some kult or organisation, though the Second Hokage knew which one thanks to Jiraiya telling both him and Kakashia few days ago.

_Akatsuki,_ Tobirama thought.

"I'm sorry but I'm not familiar with you." Tobirama said to the large man.

He chuckled, amused "I'm Kisame Hoshigaki, the Scourge of the Hidden Mist Village."

The title was probably well earned Tobirama concluded in his mind. He could feel Naruto's nervousness, but he was sure he could eliminate the two without too much of a hassle, but it would be more difficult while protecting his great grandson and the Uchiha was actually on their side, though he had to pretend otherwise.

Itachi decided to settle this quickly and went to cast a genjutsu on the to-him-unknown Second Hokage with the Sharingan. However, Tobirama sensed his intention and he had other plans.

* * *

_Itachi found himself in a mostly black place with some grey lines on the walls which kept moving in wave-like motions. He was confused as he was sure he put a genjutsu on the unknown leaf ninja._

_"Itachi Uchiha." he heard from behind him._

_He quickly turned and his eyes widened in a rare display of emotion. Before him was standing the same man from before, but with blue armor and a black suit instead of a Hidden Leaf uniform, white hair and red eyes instead of black, a happuri-style headband and three red marks on his face._

_In front of him was the Second Hokage of the Village Hidden In The Leaves._

_"We need to talk."_

* * *

Again, sorry about the long wait. School and everything, you know. I hope you're happy with chapter 5 of Tobirama Senju Reincarnated: The Second Hokage's Heir and I promise that I will try to finish the next chapter in less time than this one.

Story recommendations:

**Lord of Foxes by Mightyena's Shadow**

**Densetsu no Sannin: Second Coming by Zyphrost**

**Naruto of the Mist and Naruto: Suna's Prince by Hamp24**

**The World Turns Without You by ensou**

**Senju Naruto - The Rise Of A Hero by tushu4572**

**Naruto: Legends of Two Jinchuriki by X009**


	6. Chapter 6

**Guest 1 &amp; 2: **Everything will be explained regarding the political state of the Hidden Leaf Village. Just be patient.

I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"We_ need to talk."_

_Itachi liked to humbly consider himself an exceptionally perceptive, as well as far-sighted man. He could easily tell when people are lying, make connections as to what purpose they are lying quicker than any shinobi that he was teamed up with, no matter their age or experience. He had an inate cost-benefit understanding of any situation he found himself facing and could easily make thorough plans with many precautions and contingencies to ensure success. _

_The elders of the Hidden Leaf were certainly impressesd, though Danzo also found him dangerous. However, even for the draconianly pragmatic war hawk he remained a mystery, for the most part, and he liked to keep it that way. Nevertheless, he himself somewhat shamefully admitted that him taking advantage of Itachi through the prospect of his younger brother's safety was not one of the prouder moments in his life._

_Fortunately, an opportunity presented itself when the village defenses were lowered somewhat after Orochimaru's attack. Infiltrating the village but being located by their shinobi was all a part of his plan. Why else would he take a seat in a cafe that was popular among shinobi? As it is, him and Kisame being found out seemed as nothing more than an unfortunate occurence and with that his plan was already finished. He fulfilled Pain's orders while simoultaneously__ sending a subtle message to Danzo to remind him that he was still out there and that his brother was still off limits._

_It wouldn't be far from the truth to say that he killed more than two birds with one stone. With how effortlessly he infiltrated the village, the Hokage would undoubtedly up the security, maybe even to wartime measures. Kakashi's knowledge of Akatsuki and their purpose was both fortunate and unfortunate. It conveyed to the Hidden Leaf Village that Akatsuki was becoming active, thus they will likely begin with preperations for both the jinchuriki and the rest of their shinobi to face this new threat._

_At the same time, in order to remain within the ranks of the organization, he had to take Kakashi with him, which meant taking away one of their best shinobi and a possible Hokage candidate. For the greater good he had to do it. Thankfully, Guy's sudden appereance stopped that from happening and Itachi had internally breathed a sigh of relief._

_Naruto in the company of one of the sannin and another shinobi was another boon. He knew of Jiraiya's prosperity for beautiful women, but a ninja as experienced as him was bound to notice the genjutsu he put on that woman, regardless of his weakness._

_As it is, he will remain within Akatsuki, Naruto will not be captured, Danzo will stay away from Sasuke and the Hidden Leaf Village will hopefully start preparing for the inevitable. Such was the remarkability of Itachi Uchiha's foresight._

_But never could his remarkable perceptive capabilities predict the Second Hokage appearing in front of him and demanding a conversation like some messenger of the Gods._

_Nonetheless, he quickly schooled his features back to the emotionless mask, though there was noticeable suspicion in his eyes. For all he knew this could have been an elaborate trick._

_"How is this possible?" he asked._

_Tobirama let out a very small grin, liking Itachi's straighforwardness and ability to keep his composure "Orochimaru used my Reanimation Jutsu to summon me back to the world of the living in order to kill Hiruzen. Luckily, I had created a jutsu that destroys the contract between the summoner and the summoned." he explained._

_Itachi nodded, having figured long ago that the dead kage must have created at least one fail-safe measure when he had first heard about the Second Hokage's most infamous jutsu. A jutsu itself isn't evil, but the manner in which it is used can be and figured Tobirama made sure to create at least one weakness to the seemingly 'perfect' jutsu._

_With his question now answered he turned to the more important matter at hand "What is it that you wanted to talk to me about, Lord Second?"_

_The man crossed his arms before speaking "I had created this genjutsu with three layers to counteract the Sharingan during the War of the Clans Era. Using the very connection established by the Sharingan, the first layer is this manifested illusionary plane in which time is significantly increased, with the second layer serving to skew both of our perceptions of time, making it seem like we're moving at a normal pace." _

_Suddenly, a chair was conjured out of thin air just behind Itachi and the Uchiha felt an invisible force push him into the chair. He looked up at Tobirama who was looking back at him seriously and intensely "The third layer allows me complete control over this realm using both my own power and some of the Sharingan's, borrowed through the connection."_

_Just as suddenly, the pressure was gone and he felt that he could stand up again, which he did. The chair behind him dissapeared into nothingness, though Itachi barely paid any attention to that. Instead, he was focused on the undead man in front of him._

_"But to answer your question, the first two layers are far more important than the third one. With the genjutsu in effect, to us, five minutes in here will equal one second in the real world, plenty of time to have a private conversation. What I wanted to talk to you about is this highly classified endeavour that you're undertaking and Hiruzen had the courtesy of explaining to me."_

_Itachi's brow creased slightly before he closed his eyes and sighed internally in resignation "So you are aware of the coup d'etat the Uchiha had planned?"_

_Tobirama nodded "The reason I brought you here is to tell you that I belive you're making a grave mistake."_

_The S-rank rogue ninja showed some rarely-seen suprise at his words. He didn't expect the most pragmatic and calculating of the Hokage to actually disavow his actions._

_"You believe I shouldn't have killed my clan, sir? The coup d'etat would have lead to the Fourth Shinobi World War while at the same time a civil war within the walls of the Hidden Leaf Village. It wouldn't have survived all of that." he said._

_Tobirama took a deep breath before he elaborated "While some better made decisions earlier on, including from my part, might have prevented that, what you did was a neccesary evil, Itachi. No, you took a wrong turn when you decided to do it all by yourself and take the burden of being a rogue ninja. Most importantly, you made the wrong decision when you awoke the Curse of Hatred within your little brother, Sasuke."_

_At first, Itachi didn't know how to respond. Sasuke had been too young to know and he didn't want his clan's reputation completely destroyed, despite believing that it was their own choices that lead to their eventual annihilation. He had ignited the flames of hatred within Sasuke with the purpose of Itachi himself being the source and the target, motivating him to become strong enough to kill him and consequentially being proclaimed a village hero._

_He didn't fully understand what the Hokage meant by awakening the Curse of Hatred within his little brother. From what he knew, it was an ideal that most Uchiha somehow adopted by adulthood, whether on their own or through the teachings of the older generations. The ideal generally demanded a cold, selfish and narrow-minded outlook while putting the Uchiha clan's aspirations at the forefront._

_He hated it._

_He believed that without being sorrounded by the older generations of Uchihas and with his hatred solely focused on him, Sasuke wouldn't adopt such an outlook. However, he did notice that the way Tobirama said it made it seem as something more than just an outlook on life._

_But for now, he concetrated more on the present._

_"He was too young to know, too young to understand. It was best that I perform the massacre, fool him and the rest of the village with the guise that I became a power hungry psychopath and be labeled a rogue ninja. My little brother kills me, our clan's reputation remains the way it is and is restored under the hand of a more worthy leader." Itachi said._

_"I doubt that things will end that way if you keep walking down this path and Sasuke his." Tobirama countered._

_Itachi stared at him in confusion "I don't understand."_

_The Second Hokage sighed before speaking "The Curse of Hatred is an ideal passed down in the Uchiha clan, has been for many generations, but it's also much more than that. In some ways it's more of a syndrome or a psychological disorder than a mere ideal." the older man said._

_Itachi was almost stumped now "Are you saying that the so-called Curse of Hatred is a disease?"_

_"Yes" he replied but shook his head a little before continuing "and no."_

_Itachi just looked at him blankly, although to Tobirama's trained eyes it was a look that practically demanded answers._

_"The Senju clan believed that love was the key to everything; power, peace, 'the answer' and so on. The Uchiha believed that power is something tangible and they suppressed their more affectionate emotions as a result. However, there was more to it than that. In reality, the Uchiha felt love just as strongly as the Senju, in many cases maybe even more so."_

_This, Itachi was unaware of. Almost all of the adults exercised a composed and calculating demeanour, while the children were usually kind and cheerful, though it wouldn't last long. He did notice the strange phenomenon, but he just chalked it up to older generations teaching the younger to be like that._

_However, thare had always been something in the back of his mind, nagging at him, telling him it was more than that but he could never figure it out, like an itch that couldn't be scratched._

_And now it seemed he would get his answer._

_"You mentioned that they felt such strong love, but constantly tried to push the feeling down, believing it wasn't, what _they_ considered, 'the answer'." the Uchiha said._

This kid really is a genius, _Tobirama thought with an inward smile "Yes. As you may have gussed, doing that ultimately doesn't end well for anybody, but the Uchiha were genetically inclined to experience it more... traumatically when such a method failed on them."_

_"When an Uchiha has loved somebody and then lost that same person, their love changes into a deep hatred and they gain an outlook that most people describe as the Curse of Hatred. The despair-induced hatred causes them to become selfish and ambitious with little care of the consequences of how they achieve their goals. The phrase 'you can see it in their eyes' is never more appropriate than then."_

_Itachi quickly connected the dots "The Sharingan."_

_The Second Hokage nods "The despair causes a manifestation of unique chakra in the Uchiha's brain which affects their optic nerves, creating the eyes that reflect emotion and the truest windows to the soul that one will ever see."_

_Itachi almost gulped at the conclusion, but kept his composure "What are you implying?"_

_Tobirama sighed "Orochimaru gave Sasuke the Curse Mark."_

_To the man's confusion there was no physical reaction, not even a flinch. If anything, his expression just became more blank and simply... unsuprised._

_Tobirama quickly figured it out and he narrowed his eyes slightly "You knew this might happen, didn't you?"_

_It was Itachi's turn to sigh "It was a possibility. I knew of his goal and his obsession with the Sharingan which would cause his plans to skyrocket. He tried to subdue me back when he was in Akatsuki, but he failed and left. The news of him putting that mark on Sasuke is slightly disturbing, but nothing that I won't be able to take care of."_

_"What I was trying to imply is that Sasuke might go willingly to him in order to obtain the power to kill you." the undead kage said._

_The Uchiha narrowed his eyes somewhat "What makes you so certain that he would go so far as to practically betray his own village just to gain power?"_

_Tobirama shook his head and looked down "You underestimate the narrow-mindedness that the Curse of Hatred can cause. A 'cursed' Uchiha will care about his goal more than anything, including his bonds with people. If anything, such an Uchiha will oft believe that breaking those bonds will make them stronger." he looked up at Itachi with a nearly accusing gaze "After all, you told him hatred was the answer to becoming strong."_

_Itachi looked down a little and for the first time ever, had doubts in his plan. Granted, the Curse was an unknown factor, but even without that putting such an emphasis on hatred might not have been a good idea._

_However, Sasuke is his little brother and he would put faith in him to do the right thing. With those thoughts, he looked at the Second Hokage with determination in his eyes._

_"I trust him."_

_Tobirama shook his head again "No, you don't. You're manipulating him. You don't trust Sasuke's strength."_

_"A murdering psycopath couldn't tell his little brother that love was the key to strength." Itachi said._

_"The man under that guise could have let the Anbu handle it or at least trust his little brother with the truth." The older man countered._

_"For my brother's sake, I wanted to preserve the clan's reputation, despite their numerous faults. I'm merely facing punishment for killing them and traumatising my brother, while he himself can get the satisfaction and recognition for killing me that __he__ deserves for the pain I put him through."_

_"The only responsibility that you feel, regarding the Uchiha clan's demise, is the one within your own head. You could have stayed with your brother and helped him after the massacre, but you willingly caused more pain for him and brought forth a person that might cause disaster for our village, all because of a misguided sense of guilt. Apart from that, for the same reason, you're helping a criminal organization capture jinchuriki." Tobirama near shouted._

_Itachi, for the most part, succeeded in maintaining his emotionless visage, but a hint of frustration was visible "What I did and am doing is for the greater good."_

_"Your far-sightedness is impressive, but it'll be more than just your own downfall as well. You keep thinking along those lines," the man took a step closer to the young Uchiha and looked him dead in the eye with all the seriousness and intensity he could muster "you'll end up no different than Danzo."_

_He flinched a bit at that. He didn't like being compared to that war hawk. Though he did what he did, Danzo truly knew no bounds with what he was willing to do and Tobirama comparing him to someone like that left a sour taste in his mouth._

_No, not comparing. He said he would eventually become like him if he continues down this path. Was the man implying that Danzo wasn't as he was now when he was Itachi's age? Was he implying that he was starting to adopt the same philosophy as he did when the old man was his age? Or was it something more? The younger man noticed Tobirama looked while mostly calm, he had a somewhat stricken look in his eyes. Of one who went through something similar. A 'been there, done that' look._

_It doesn't matter anyway. He was sick. He will die one way or another._

_Tobirama thoughts took a rather unpleasent road down memory lane after he spoke the last sentence. The 'greater good' was more than a faulty philosophy; it's a philosophy that hurts many people undeserving of it and turns good folk into monsters. The idea that everything you do is justified as long you do it for the greater good is very tempting. A ripe and beautiful apple that is rotten on the inside._

_Though never as nearly as bad as Danzo, Tobirama himself bit a good chunk of it and suffered for it._

_But the worst part was he wasn't the only one to pay the price for his idiocy._

_"His methods are quite questionable, but he wants what's best for the village." Itachi said softly._

_"What he _wants _is to be judge, jury and executioner in 'his' village; his ideal Hidden Leaf Village. To him, justice without mercy is the truest form of justice there is." Tobirama scoffed at the notion "Justice without mercy is no different than tyranny."_

_"Everyone lives within their own subjective interpretation of what they understand and accept as true and correct. What one may consider tyranny, another may consider it righteous. Knowledge and truth are merely vague concepts, nothing more than illusions at times." Itachi responded._

_"Birds fly, fish swim and humans wage war. There are some things that are and will remain true, no mater how much one denies it. We will never be rid of our subjective opinions, but we are aware of them and thus can make allowances for them." The Second Hokage sighed before continuing "As it is, Danzo is as idealistic and visionary as he is machiavellian and pragmatic, so lost in and corrupted by his ideal of the greater good that he doesn't know what he's doing anymore. He didn't forget why he does what he does, but he merely acts on anything that might even remotely stand in the way of his goal and he has no care for what the results beyond his goal may be."_

_"Never were an idealist, I presume?" the Uchiha asked with a slightly raised eyebrow._

_"There is nothing wrong with it, at least as long as it's within reasonable bounds. If I had lacked some of that idealism, I would have been no different than my belligirent father and I would have been against the construction of the Hidden Leaf Village through an alliance with the Uchiha." he informed him._

_Tobirama shook his head "In any case, I believe you should reconsider your current efforts and consider a new alternative if you want, as you said, 'the clan restored under a hand of a more worthy leader'. If you don't, than you run the risk of the next generations of Uchiha clan members being taught by someone who believes that hatred is the equivalent of strength."_

_He took a step closer to the young adult "I am the Second Hokage and I will ensure the safety of my village. If he decides to go to Orochimaru with the Sharingan and betray the village," the room suddenly started breaking apart and their legs were engulfed by fire that didn't burn. It went up their bodies in a moderate pace and just before evrything faded away, he saw the Second Hokage's intense look and heard his last words echo throughout the illusionary plane._

_"I will kill him."_

* * *

The two shinobi not caught in the genjutsu just stared at the other two who had just frozen with a blank look on their face, wondering what happened. Kisame, who had fought alongside Itachi for a while now, had a much better idea, but this was rather new even for him.

Not two seconds later, their blanks looks were gone and focus returned to their eyes. They stared at each other until Itachi opened his mouth to speak.

"Kisame, we should"

***poof***

Before he could finish, a cloud of smoke appeared a few meters away from them. When it cleared, Jiraya stood there with his head down, the shadows from his hair covering his eyes and the young woman from before was on his shoulder, appereantly unconcious. A moment later, his eyes opened wide and he entered one of his usual kabuki poses.

"As you can see you have failed! A rare beauty's charm can't victimize the Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku! Beautiful women fall for ME! When you reach the stature of the gallant Jiraiya, THE LADIES WILL WORSHIP AT YOUR AWESOMENESS!"

As the people slowly turned to look at him, All of them had different expressions. While Kisame and Itachi had emotionless looks, at least what could be seen from their eyes, Tobirama perhaps showed more emotion than ever. He had a look that yodeled utter and complete unimpressivness and embarrassment and, for the first time ever, looked like he considered fleeing from battle like a coward.

Naruto, on the other hand, was just as unimpressed, but the tick mark on his forehead showed another emotion which he decided to voice quite loudly.

"AHH, SHUT THE FUCK UP! One wink from a pretty girl and you turn into a mountain of diarrhetic SHIT! You fell for it like a ton of bricks, Pervy Sage!"

Jiraiya just rubbed the back of his head and chuckled nervously "I really wish you wouldn't use that name in front of other people." he drawled.

Naruto threw his hands into the air in indignation "Are you pulling my leg, you old goat? We got worse things to worry about than what these guys think of you. GET WICKED, Pervy Sage!"

The Toad Sage scowled "Goddammit, brat! Didn't I tell you not to call me that!" he snapped while crying anime tears.

The Second Hokage face-palmed at their antics "I'm on a mission with the two biggest idiots since my brother."

Kisame chuckled "While I'm having a hard time believing you're one of the Legendary Sannin, I guess I shouldn't be suprised that you managed to see and dispell the genjutsu we cast on the girl. Looks like things are going to get a little more interesting. How convenient."

Jiraiya's face turned serious, maybe even a bit predatory "Oh, I agree. Now I can eliminate _both_ of you at the same time." he said dangerously.

"NO!"

All of them turned to stare at the one who yelled that. There, at the end of the hallway, stood Sasuke, panting slightly, most likely from running all the way from the Hidden Leaf. His eyes were murderous and trained on his elder brother, trying to burn a hole in his skull.

"If anyone is going to eliminate _him_, it's me." he said harshly.

Itachi stared at him with emotionless eyes "It's been a long time, Sasuke."

Sparks began to emit from the boy's hand as he activated his Sharingan "I've spent my entire life, ever since that night, hating you. I've been waiting for this day when I can finally avenge _my _parents and kill you for all the injustice that you've caused. Itachi Uchiha" the Chidori came to life and Sasuke got ready "YOU'RE DEAD!"

With that he rushed at the older Uchiha while roaring along with the sound of the jutsu tearing through the hotel wall.

Itachi just stared at him, no visible reaction whatsoever, as he got closer and closer. Just before the Lightning style jutsu hit, he grabbed the the hand and diverted the jutsu's trajectory, hitting the wall instead, causing an explosion that destroyed the wall on the other side of the room as well.

Naruto stared incredulously at the scene, marvelling at the skill the rogue ninja showed in that one move and how calmly he did it. The blond usually found it quite hard to remain that collected in a battle and to see others like Tobirama and Itachi do it so effortlessly made him feel rather inadequate.

Sasuke just glared at Itachi before screaming as he broke his left hand. The older brother slammed the younger into the wall before letting go of his hand. Itachi just looked at him disinterestedly as he spoke "Go away, foolish little brother. You don't interest me at the moment."

Sasuke's head snapped up to glare at him with wide eyes "WHAT?"

"Yes." all of them turned to look at Jiraiya who had spoken "That's why you cast the genjutsu on the young woman. It was in order to separate me from Naruto, since _he _is the one you want."

The two youngest were visibly suprised at the revelation, Sasuke a little more so since Naruto had heard Itachi ask for him earlier.

"That explains how Kakashi knew." the rogue Uchiha said as he came to the realization of the previous events that day "He learned it... from you. Yes. Naruto is the prize that the Akatsuki are after."

The non-rogue Uchiha snarled as he started to get up. Tobirama shot Jiraiya a look at which he nodded. Going through several hand signs he shouted **"****Ninja Art: Toad Mouth Trap" **and slammed them on the ground.

Instantly, flesh began to grow from and cover the walls. In less than ten seconds the entire hallway, including the floor and ceiling, was covered in pink flesh.

"Welcome, my friends, to the belly of the beast. There is no ninja who has ever escaped the sensitive stomach of the great stone toad. Not the most glorious way to die, is it?" Jiraiya said smugly.

Naruto gazed at the transfigured hallway in wonder "Woah." he drawled in amazement.

"Naruto!" the Toad Sage shouted. The young blond's gaze snapped to him "Stay calm. Trust in my jutsu."

Seeing that fighting was pointless, Itachi ordered Kisame to run. They both ran towards the exit, but Jiraiya commanded the walls of fleash to chase them. They eventually got a visual of it, but the jutsu was too fast and they obviously weren't goint to make it.

"What are we going to do?" asked Kisame almost frantically.

Itachi just closed his eyes in concentration and opened for the rogue Hidden Mist ninja to see the Sharingan morph, causing him to smirk.

The Hidden Leaf ninja felt an explosion rock the entire building. They began running towards where the two Akatsuki members had ran before and they saw a charred hole in the wall with black flames on the edges.

_They did the impossible. They broke through the wall _Jiraiya thought. Tobirama gazed intently at the black flames.

Naruto approached the hole, gazing at the black flames in confusion "What are these... black flames?"

"Naruto, stay away from those!" The Second Hokage warned him. Naruto quickly retreated as Jiraiya opened a scroll and set it down on the floor. He began writing on it and was soon finished, after which he went through a few hand signs and slammed his right hand on the ground.

**"Sealing Jutsu: Fire Seal"**

From the scroll rose a blue apparition that reminded Naruto of smoke, but he knew it was chakra. It grabbed the black fire and pulled it into the center of the scroll, where a kanji for fire appeared as if written by the chakra itself. Jiraiya quickly closed and tied it "There. That should do it."

_So this was Amaterasu, the supposed black flames from hell. To have been able to burn through the fire resistent flesh of the stone toad. That is some unique jutsu _the Toad Sage thought before stomping with his foot once, causing the flesh to recede from the walls.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and clenched his fists in anger and frustration. To have come so far, but to have remained just as far from his goal was infuriatingly disheartening. He had his chance after 5 years and he was nowhere near his brother's strength.

Tobirama, seeing the maelstrom of emotions in Sasuke, decided to speak up "You shouldn't feel too bad. Itachi is an S-rank ninja with significantly more experience than you. It was only logical that you were not yet ready to face him."

The young Uchiha's head snapped in his dirrection "Didn't you see what happened back there? How easily he beat me? I made it my life's goal to kill him. How _am_ I supposed to feel?"

"You certainly didn't think that he would remain as strong as he was during the Massacre. Of course he got stronger. With the right training anyone will, including you." Tobirama replied.

He took a step closer to Sasuke "Revenge is a difficult path to tread, Sasuke. It requires work, motivation and, above all, patience. Focus on your training for the next several years and then face him again. Do not get discouraged by loss. Let it do the opposite instead."

Sasuke was still angry, but the man's words calmed him down somewhat. He didn't know exatcly why, but figured it was because he was simply stating facts instead of trying to sympathise with him. His near-monotonous tone, so similar and yet so different from Itachi's, and his logic made him feel a little better about his chances.

But that still left the question of why he was after Naruto. What made him so desirable for this so-called Akatsuki organization? The blond had been growing by leaps and bounds, defeating even Gaara who Sasuke himself couldn't defeat while in a weaker state, the dead last of the academy. Why couldn't he achieve such a stellar improvement? What made Naruto so different?

The Second Hokage noticed Sasuke glaring at his great grandson and sighed. Thankfully, Naruto wasn't looking in his direction and Tobirama decided to end the situation before it was exarcebated.

"Sasuke Uchiha, we are currently on a mission and I will have to ask you to go back to the village. Go to the hospital and have your wrist looked at. I can see it's most likely broken."

The young shinobi in question looked at him somewhat defiantly before wincing in pain and conceding, throwing Naruto one last glare before jumping through the hole in the wall. Naruto looked confused at first, but just shrugged and figured his teammate was just pissed at being beaten by his brother.

"Let's go find another inn to stay in for the day. We will leave early tomorrow." Jiraiya said. The two nodded and they all left, but not before witnessing the Toad Sage crying over the repair bill for the damge done to the hotel.

* * *

They left early the next morning only an hour after the sun rose and continued on their mission. Naruto had contemplative look on his face and was looking down at the road, which didn't go unnoticed by his seniors. Tobirama decided to voice their question "Alright, Naruto, what's on your mind?"

The blond jinchuriki blinked up at them before turning serious "Why were those two after me? What does this Akatsuki want with me?"

The two adults looked at each other as if having an internal conversation before Jiraiya spoke up "Don't get the wrong idea. The weren't after you per se, but what's inside you."

Naruto's eyes widened "You mean the Nine Tailed Fox?"

He nodded "Yes, appareantly this organization is after huge sources of power and rather unique weaponry, at least from what I've gathered. I belive they might be after all the jinchuriki. Of course, it's nothing more than speculation at the moment."

Tobirama added his two cents "The organization is comprised of several very powerful shinobi, all S-rank. If their goal truly is capturing jinchuriki, and it probably is, things are going to be tough for you from now on."

Naruto gulped at first but he soon turned determined "Things have always been tough for me. I think I can handle it."

The two adults grinned slightly at his lack of whining "Good. If they're bent on capturing tailed beasts, you can bet that the members have quite a unique skillset." Tobirama said.

The Nine-tails jinchuriki nodded before turning thoughtful "How many jinchuriki are there, anyway?"

Tobirama raised an eyebrow, looking somewhat incredulous "You're joking, right? Didn't they teach you that?"

Naruto shooh his head "No. Why? Were they supposed to?"

"I'd like to think so." the man replied "They are, after all, considered war deterrents and weapons by their villagers. Running into one could mean certain death if uninformed about them."

Naruto spluttered "W-What? Weapons? War deterrents? What the hell are you talking about? Don't they just seal the tailed beasts so they wouldn't cause havoc?"

"That's one reason. The othe-" Jiraiya was cut off by Tobirama "No, it's not."

Both sets of eyes turned to him. The undead kage sighed at the false teachings they were given "Tailed beasts are actually sapient, but rather solitary creatures. Normally, they stayed away from the hidden villages, but they were sought out by people in order to be used as weapons. That's why it is oftenly said that they are natural disasters that appear where good amounts of human malevolence has gathered. Afterwards, whenever a tailed beast managed to escape from a human host, damage and casualties were unavoidable, which only made things worse for their reputation."

Naruto was wide-eyed as he took it all in "Sapient means smart, right?" he asked. The two nodded "Then why were they captured if they were? Isn't that wrong?"

Tobirama sighed at his naivete. He was still so innocent and gullible, despite the hardships he went through and things he witnessed. He had far too much hope in people than he was comfortable with his descendant having.

"People are narrow-minded and quick to judge, it's easier for them to hate and fear than love and trust, and harder to lose it. In most people's eyes they were monsters, in many others they were sources of power and in very, very few were they sapient beings with emotions." Tobirama explained.

"That is a lesson you should learn quickly, Naruto. Many people are greedier than they are caring for the lives and feelings of other people, let alone tailed beasts." Jiraiya added.

Naruto just looked angrier and more downtrodden as they spoke. How could people do such things? Did they not care? What is the purpose of all that?

"Why?" is the only thing he said.

"Interests." the blond looked at his great grandfather who had answered "That was always the most important thing in statecraft, Naruto. Interests. That's why the Hidden Sand allied themselves to us in the first place and recently betrayed us. Common interests takes place above things like allies and such."

"He's right. The hidden villages are like business companies. You compete with other companies in who gains more money, who develops faster, who gains more resources, etc. We were quite aware of the Hidden Sand's poor economic state, but there was nothing we could do about it." the white-haired sannin said.

"Than what's the point of having allies in the first place? Why go through the trouble of creating friendship when they are likely to stab you in the back later?" Naruto snapped.

Tobirama's neutral expression didn't change "Like I already said, Naruto, common interest. New trade routes, previously unobtainable materials, exchange of information and support during war are all good reasons to form alliances. However, all that didn't benefit the Sand anymore and they became desperate enough to side with a treacherous rogue ninja in order to invade us."

He sighed before continuing "You must understand that while none of us like what they did, it was somewhat understandable. According to their current economic condition, they're nearing bankrupcy, thus they had very little to lose with this endeavour. They probably didn't like it either. It must have been hard for their Kazekage to make this decision, but for the sake of his village he did it. _You_ might be in his position in the future."

Naruto's jaw dropped and he began spluttering before Jiriya decided to cut in "He's not saying that you'll have to invade another village, merely that, as Hokage, you'll have to make many just as difficult decisions."

Naruto looked at him consideringly for a moment before his shoulders slumped a bit and he looked down. After a few moments he spoke "I don't think I'll be able to do that."

"Well, you'll have to if you want the mantle of Hokage." Tobirama said a bit forcefully, causing the blond to stare up at him in shock "Sometimes you'll have to choose the lesser of two or more evils instead of between right and wrong. You won't always be able to do the honorable, but foolish thing, especially if it might cost the village. As Hokage you'll be responsible for the entire Hidden Leaf Village and you'll have to make decisions for the sake of it's safety and betterment. You can't be overtly kind and compassionate all the time."

Naruto scowled "There's nothing wrong with kindness and compassion! I'm not gonna be any different than Orochimaru otherwise!"

"I didn't say there was anything wrong with those things. What I'm trying to say is that the world isn't black and white." Naruto looked confused at his great grandfather. He didn't understand. First he tells him he can't be kind and compassionate, and now he tells him there is nothing wrong with those things.

"What he means is that many bad things are good in moderation. 'In moderation' means that they have limits, they're tempered. Excesivness can change that. Discretion is the better part of valor, Naruto. If you can't temper an idealistic and compassionate heart with a sensible and rational mind, in the end it might do more harm than good." Jiraiya explained.

Naruto pondered his words before responding "So what you're saying is I need to find balance between idealistic and-" his brow furrowed as he tried to find the right word "pragmatic, between soft and hard." he said though he still looked rather conflicted and a bit forlorn.

Both the adults were suprised by his analysis, even a little proud. Tobirama smiled a little before turning serious "Exatcly. It's the same thing I did back when I lead the village. Hashirama was too soft and Madara too ruthless. Both are needed to be an effective leader in general. I tried to find a balance between my brother's kindness and Madara's ruthlesness and add my logic since I didn't have anybody to take on the role Madara and I did for Hashirama when I became Hokage."

The young shinobi stared at him before turning his head to the side in quiet contemplation "So I'll have to make these... tough decisions when I am Hokage? Decisions I won't like?" he managed to phrase it as both a question and a statement simoultaneously.

Tobirama and Jiraiya nodded "Yes, it won't be easy and you won't be able to sleep peacefully at times, but that doesn't mean you won't be able to be considered a kind leader. Hiruzen is a great Hokage, but he didn't always understand these lessons I'm telling you now. Or, at least, he didn't manage to go through with them as often as I would've liked. He left most of the darkerness, and believe me when I say that our village _does_ have it's dark side, to someone who might be worse than Madara. That was Hiruzen's biggest weakness."

Suprisingly, Tobirama put both his hands on Naruto's jinchuriki looked into the dead man's eyes in bewilderment, but understood the gesture. It was a mix of affectionate worry and, more importantly, to emphasize whatever he was about to say.

"This isn't just when you become Hokage, but your entire life as a ninja, Naruto. Frankly, you're naive, gullible, too trusting and you're prone to rushing without thinking things through." his great grandson looked hurt and ashamed by his assesment "But you're also hard-working, determined, brave and you have heart that cares for everybody in our village. Nevertheless, I don't want you dying prematurely because you didn't know how to act and think like a ninja during a mission. You can't immediately trust anybody, especially a stranger. We're not knights with a knight's code of honor. Deception is a weapon like any other in our proffesion. They won't care how they kill you because all that's important to your enemies is that you end up dead one way or another. As the Hidden Sand has proven, even allies can turn against you."

"Another mistake you seem to be prone to making is that you base the actions and decisions of other people by comparing them to your own opinions. You _cannot_ base another person's decisions and actions by thinking what _you_ would do because no two people are the same. Just because you wouldn't use underhanded tactics, for example, doesn't mean another person wouldn't do it. Different people equals different goals and opinions. Unless it harms people who are close to you, you shouldn't waste so much of your time trying to prove your opinions correct to people who disagree with them. What makes you think that your philosophical opinions are better than someone else's or that everything will happen how you wish it just because you say so? You'll never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks. You have to accept that there will be people who will contradict you and that you can't satisfy everyone."

Naruto was looking truly humbled and ashamed by the end of it. It was hard admit it to himself, but everything Tobirama said was true. Normally, he would think his opinion on things and the way he supports them was right and reasonable, but the way his great granfather phrased it all made him see the numerous flaws. He knew he was a knucklehead and he too readily trusted people and dismissed many things he didn't comprehend simply because no one bothered to explain things he didn't understand during his childhood, not to mention those who purposely misinformed him. To make it easier and not waste any mental energy on a pointless effort, he learned to dismiss almost anything he couldn't solve. As to why he so naively trusts people, well, his childhood is explanation enough.

Now he understood how much of a stupid thing it was to not put any effort into learning and figuring stuff out just because it made things easier and simpler. He couldn't try and convince others that he wasn't an idiot when he rushes into most situations like a blind ox without thinking things through. The very hypocrisy is what probably made other poeple more eager to criticise and mock his intelligence and it only took him, what, several years and a lecture from a dead relative to make him see that.

Tobirama didn't like the shame and despair in his descendant's eyes, but pain, whether physical or emotional, was sometimes the most efficient way to get one's point across. With his guidance and Naruto's own efforts, he wil grow better from it.

"Enough with that face. Both me and Jiraiya are here to help you, but we won't be able to do it if you don't listen and put effort into it. Can I trust you, my grandson, to do your best in your training?" the Second Hokage said seriously.

Naruto looked at him in awe and then turned to look at Jiraiya who nodded with a small smile on his lips. The grin that found it's way on his face threatened to give him a permanent cheshire grin. He knew he was a knucklehead, he knew there was a lot of work to be done and a lot of blood, sweat and tears to come.

He couldn't wait.

"You bet your dust-farting ass I will!" he said with his grin gaining a mischevious glint in it.

Tobirama's eye twitched while the Toad Sage roared with laughter. His hand slowly went to his pouch and pulled out one of his kunai. He twirled it in his hand as his eyes glared into Naruto's own. The blond gulped, but he couldn't find himself regretting his words. It didn't stop though from taking a step back.

"I heard from a few sources that you were quite talented at evading the chunin and jonin after performing one of your pranks, brat." he looked down at the kunai in his hand before looking back at said brat with a vicious smirk "Let's see how well you can evade an angry Hokage. Consider it your first exercise in becoming a better ninja. You will learn not to mess with your betters."

Naruto took the hint and ran for the trees, Tobirama quickly following while screaming "YOU LITTLE BRAT!"

Jiraiya chuckled before a thought struck him and he pulled out his Make-Out notes. He quickly started writing, snickering perversly, as he imagined two different people in the places of his two companions

"Yes, Tobira. Chase that no-good sexual deviant through the woods. He he he."

* * *

I'm so very, very sorry about this unexpected delay. Thre was just so much schoolwork and other things. But here it is, the fairly long awaited sixth chapter. In all honesty, I'm rather dissapointed in how I wrote Itachi's part in the dialogue, but I'm fairly satisfied with Tobirama's.

Now, the story recommendations:

**Monster of the Hidden Leaf V2 by RandomWriter21**

**Arctic Snake by InsanityFic**

**Hero of Heaven (Naruto x Percy Jackson crossover) by HistorianoftheKais**

**Find Me a White Knight Cloaked in Black ****(Naruto x Harry Potter crossover) ****by cywscross**

**Olympian One Offs ****(Naruto x Percy Jackson crossover)**** by Bonesboy15**

**Reading: Olympian One Offs by Engineer4Ever**

**The Losers (Rewrite) by Dragon6**


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